Before Tuesday, Robby Ginepri had played 358 career ATP Tour singles matches over his 10-year career.
Before none of them, though, did he have the singularly mundane morning that he had Tuesday.
Ginepri woke up in his own bed in Kennesaw and made himself breakfast (eggs and toast) and lunch (fruit and pasta). After that, he drove across town to play his first-round match of the Atlanta Tennis Championships at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
"[I] did everything I normally do to go to practice," Ginepri said. "It kind of feels more like an exhibition than an actual tournament."
Ginepri treated the match with a more appropriate amount of gravity, overcoming a case of nerves to oust qualifier Nick Lindahl of Australia, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Ginepri, a Wheeler High grad who rose through local junior tennis ranks, will play fellow American Mardy Fish in a second-round match Wednesday.
Ginepri wasn't the only local who took the court Tuesday. Atlantan Donald Young, playing as a wild card, wrestled his own jitters to defeat Israel's Dudi Sela, 7-5, 6-0. Ranked No. 105 in the world, Young will play South Africa's Kevin Anderson, a winner Tuesday over Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, on Thursday.
"It was pretty nervous at first," Young said of playing in front of friends and family. "They usually watch you on computer or TV. You don't [normally] look to the left and see them."
When Ginepri last played a professional match locally, he was an 18-year-old senior at Wheeler trying to qualify for the Verizon Tennis Challenge, also at the Atlanta Athletic Club. The tournament closed for lack of a sponsor, and the Atlanta Tennis Championships is the first pro tournament in metro Atlanta since then.
Ginepri, ranked No. 75, said the anticipation felt more like a grand-slam tournament than the garden-variety ATP event that it is. He even became anxious while practicing before the event.
"I think you're always a little more nervous when you're playing your home court and all your family and friends are watching you," Ginepri's mother, Nancy, said.
With the pressure of a) playing in front of family and friends; b) facing an opponent most figured he would roll over; c) not having played a match in almost a month since a first-round defeat at Wimbledon, Ginepri didn't exactly steamroll.
He got down a break at 3-1 and at 4-2 before rallying to force a tiebreaker. Falling behind 4-2, he won the last five points to take the set. He gathered momentum in the second set, breaking Lindahl at 2-2 en route to winning the final four games.
The day turned into a warm and memorable homecoming. Cheers of "Come on, Robby!" popped from every corner of the stadium court.
"I could hear them cheering for me," Ginepri said. "I kind of recognized their voices and the different way they kind of cheer for you than normal."
Nancy Ginepri estimated that about 50 members of their Olde Towne Athletic Club in Marietta made it out for the 4 p.m. match, along with several friends from Wheeler.
Following the match, as cheers washed down to the court, Robby Ginepri walked back out on court, raising his hands and showing his thanks with his own applause. He even flashed a hand gesture that he called an inside joke among friends. Not exactly the sort of move you can try at, say, Roland Garros.
Following his post-match interviews, he served as a tour guide for a video to go on the ATP tour website. Well-wishers repeatedly congratulated him or asked for autographs. Heads turned and fingers pointed as he walked the grounds.
"It's great having all the support here," Ginepri said. "I know everybody's been waiting for this week for a while."
Perhaps no one more than the guy commuting from Kennesaw.
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