“It was incredible,” Kukushkin said. “Honestly, I did not believe that I would be able to win. I haven’t been doing much for the last six months because I decided to retire. For example, this is the match that describes my entire career. Hard fought, very long match, very long two sets. A lot of nerves, a lot of breakers and a lot of uncertainty. It reminds me of this whole fight and just winning.”
Career High No. 39 in 2019
Almaty is the 222nd career ATP Tour or Grand Slam event, which began in 2006. It is also his record sixth appearance in the tournament. Kukushkin won his only ATP Tour title in St. Petersburg in 2010 and reached a career-high ranking of 39th in 2019.
On Sunday, he said his greatest memories were of playing for his country.
“When I play a Davis Cup match, I represent the country. There is a great responsibility. In those matches, I felt like I played better at times,” he said. “Of course, I remember the meeting with Novak in 2016. 4 hours 57 minutes. I will remember this meeting for the rest of my life. Even though I lost the match, it was incredible playing against world number one Novak in a year that was one of his best.”
Kukushkin will face the winner of the first-round matchup between No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas and Aleksandar Kovacevich.
