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Alex's American dream
By Ziad Chaudry
ALEX Bogdanovic has his sights firmly set on a second main draw appearance at the forthcoming US Open - the last tennis major of the year.
The 26-year-old from Kilburn has already started his build-up to New York's Flushing Meadow on the two-month long tough US summer hard court circuit after failing to make the Wimbledon main draw.
Bogdanovic is determined to not only reach the first round of the US Open, but more importantly improve his current ATP Tour world singles ranking of 175.
While Bogdanovic - who made himself unavailable for Great Britain's recent Davis Cup clash with Turkey - remains British number two, his funding was slashed by the Lawn Tennis Association earlier this year.
And the player immediately hit out at the governing body of British tennis following his win against compatriot Richard Bloomfield at the Comerica Bank ATP Challenger in Aptos, California, last week.
"Their reasons were disrespectful," said Bogdanovic. "They obviously didn't believe in me any more."
Bogdanovic's dream of a ninth first round outing at the All England Club ended during the qualifiers when he lost 24-22 in the third and final set decider to marathon specialist Nicolas Mahut.
The Frenchman then went on to compete in an memorable 11-hour first round tussle with John Isner before finally bowing out 70-68 in the fifth and final set shoot-out.
However, Bogdanovic did make an appearance at SW19, partnering Alexander Slabinsky in the men's doubles before the duo bowed out to Ross Hutchins and Jordan Kerr.
His run in Aptos ended in the quarter-finals against India's Somdev Devvarman - a week after going out in the second qualifying round to German doubles specialist Michael Kohlmann in Newport, Rhode Island.
Bogdanovic continues his North American trail on Saturday at University of California, Los Angeles where he will attempt to make it into the first round draw of the ATP top-tier Farmers Classic.
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