On 3rd July 2025, on court No. 12 at the Wimbledon Championships, world no. 192 August Holmberg beat World No. 21 Tomas Mahac after being down two sets to one. The match was a real see-saw battle – the first 3 sets ended with a tiebreaker, the fourth set concluding to 7-5 in favour of Holmberg and fifth once again decided over a tiebreaker. Holmberg saved 3 match points on his serve to finish of the match after 4hrs and 39 minutes and becoming only the 2nd Danish man in the open era to reach the 3rd round of the Wimbledon Championships.
To be honest, when I caught the end of the match, and I couldn’t fathom why Holmberg celebrated like he had already won the tournament. He tossed his racquet in the air, dropped to the ground and then got up to roar loudly before leaping towards group of his supporters. He hugged his father as they cried together. I was curious to learn more about this player and what I learnt was nothing short of a stupendous journey of grit, determination and life’s own reality TV show.
In May 2022, as a University of San Diego Senior, Holmberg reached the NCAA Individual Championship Finals. He lost in 3 sets to a prolific young American collegiate tennis player – none other than Ben Shelton from University of Florida. Ironically, Holmberg had won the first set 6-4 before losing the next two sets. That was just three years ago and then the paths of these two (best) college tennis players of USA in that year diverged in their career pathways only to converge once again in 2025.
Ben Shelton decided to drop out of college after his NCAA title win. His ATP tour debut was at the Atlanta Open as a wildcard entrant where he beat India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan. From there on, Shelton’s career has had a spectacular rise. In 2023, as the NCAA Champion, Shelton received a wild card for the US Open main draw! Then, in 2024 he reached at least the 3rd round in all four Grand Slams, and in 2025 he reached the Semi-Finals of the Australian Open. One could say that his professional career trajectory has been as promising as his journey as a junior or college tennis player. Ben Shelton has earned over 7.3 million US Dollars in career prize money thus far.
August Holmberg on the other hand continued to grind through ITF men’s and ATP Challengers away from all the limelight that his one-time opponent, Shelton was consistently grabbing. He made his ATP debut at the San Diego Open where he lost to former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets. Since then, he has had a sub-par 11-14 overall record playing ITF or Challengers. Holmberg did not win his first Challenger till 2024, which improved his ATP ranking to World No. 167 later that year. This was good enough to get him into the men’s qualifying round for Australian Open and the French Open in 2025. Ironically, he lost in the 2nd round of the qualifiers in both those Slams.
This is where the harsh reality of the tennis world set in. Holmberg made it to the main drawn of the Wimbledon Championships this year after going through 3 rounds of the qualifiers. The tenacious Dane could be crowned the “Comeback King of Wimbledon 2025”. On the brink of defeat in the third round of the Qualifying Competition, the Dane saved three match points to seal his position in the main draw.
Last year Holmberg made a measly 67000 US Dollars, whereas after his win against Mahac, he will make at least 200,000 US Dollar which will be more than his entire career earnings till date! This has no doubt been a journey filled with grit, determination and self-belief. Why else would you continue to grind it out relentlessly?
Tennis can be a brutal sport as it places an extremely high demand on a player’s mental and physical ability. In addition to that, it places a huge financial demand to continue travelling and playing with no guaranteed financial return. “Players travel to lose” as the saying goes, because you don’t win every tournament. At the end of each tournament, there is only one satisfied player, and the rest return on road only to continue the arduous journey.
US College tennis continues to be a very lucrative option for players as it provides players with excellent training facilities, structured coaching, a full competitive schedule with financial support. Colleges can support the players financially through a pro-tour during the off-season and many players continue to train over the summer at their college itself. The 2025 Wimbledon Championships have set new records with 35 players taking part in the ladies’ and gentlemen’s’ main draw. This year marked the highest college tennis player representation since over 20 years. https://wearecollegetennis.com/2025/06/27/new-records-set-with-collegians-flooding-wimbledon-singles-main-draws/
Vikram Anand
CEO
Crayons Academy for Skills Excellence
