Plum native Bjorn Fratangelo eyes return to pro tennis competition

Whether it has been because of injury recovery or lack of match opportunities through the entirety of the coronavirus pandemic, Bjorn Fratangelo has missed competitive tennis.

But the Plum native is refocusing his efforts toward a couple of tournaments next month as he hopes to get back in a professional groove.

“Now I am healthy and practicing at 100 percent,” said Fratangelo, 27, an eight-year pro who lives in Orlando and trains at the United States Tennis Association National Training Center there.

“I’ve been practicing a lot over the past eight to 10 weeks, and I feel my game is solid. Now, it’s just a matter of having tournaments to play and being able to get back to competitive form.”

Like many other sports, professional tennis and its tournaments throughout the U.S. and the world were postponed or canceled in March.

The French Open in Paris was moved from early June to the end of next month, and England’s Wimbledon, the annual late June-early July tradition, was called off or the first time since World War II.

“It is hard because professional tennis is so international with players normally coming and going from all over the world,” Fratangelo said.

“You see all of the news about travel bans. It’s been hard for tennis to get the flow back. With all the other sports coming back, if tennis doesn’t come back, we kind of get forgotten. It’s probably not going to be easy at the start, but hopefully, it becomes more manageable.”

As pro tennis returns with the ATP Western and Southern Open (formerly the Cincinnati Masters) and U.S. Open in the coming weeks, Fratangelo said his focus is on a pair of ATP Challenger hard-court tournaments in Cary, N.C. (Sept. 14-20) and Columbus, Ohio (Sept. 21-27).

“I am hoping to rebuild my ranking as it has fallen off a bit,” said Fratangelo, who sits at 262 in the FedEx ATP singles rankings, which have been frozen since March 16. His best-ever pro ranking was 99th in June of 2016 after he qualified for and split a pair of matches at the French Open.

Fratangelo said if those Challenger tournaments were to get canceled, he would investigate the possibility of making his way over to Europe to play in a couple of still-scheduled Challenger events.

When he does get back on the court in competition, former USTA national coach Eric Nunez said Fratangelo will be ready.

“I had been on the court with him before, and I know him well,” said Nunez, who recently partnered with Fratangelo for the latter’s latest training regimen.

“Bjorn is a natural player who sees the court very well. He’s looking really good right now. His forehand is a strength of his, and we are working on the mentality of how he needs to be more intentional and aggressive with how he uses his best shot. It can definitely be world class.”

Fratangelo said it was a challenging road back to top health through nearly a year of rehab and treatment from a case of plantar fasciitis, a disorder of the connective tissue which supports the arch of the foot.

“It started last summer in July; I started feeling some pain in my right foot,” Fratangelo said. “It ended up being a pretty severe case. I saw a couple of doctors about it, and everyone was in agreement that it was one of the worst cases they had ever seen. Surgery was discussed.”

Fratangelo didn’t have surgery and played through the pain, competing up to and through one match at the U.S. Open, his 10th Grand Slam tournament. He then took a break from competition.

Rest and rehab led to a gradual return to practice in December. He was eligible to go to Australia to qualify for January’s Australian Open, but he decided against that.

“I didn’t have the confidence I could play and not have the relapse of injury because I hadn’t put the amount of hours on my foot that I wanted to,” Fratangelo said.

But Fratangelo instead entered a Challenger event in Ann Arbor in early January.

“I wanted to try it and see how I felt, and it didn’t go how I wanted,” Fratangelo said despite winning a pair of matches and making it to the quarterfinals.

He then took more time off to continue rehab.

“I went to a different place to do rehab than before,” Fratangelo said. “Luckily, they helped me a lot. I was able to deal with issues with my foot and other areas of my body that could’ve been contributing factors.”

Practicing and feeling better in early March, Fratangelo had his sights set on a heavier competition schedule.

“I planned to play in a couple of futures events which I hadn’t played in seven years,” he said. “Then everything got canceled, and that knocked the wind out of my sails a little bit. But it gave me more time to get to 100 percent. I put the racket down for a little bit and focused on fitness and more of the rehab stuff.”

For Fratangelo, all that is left is getting back on the court and showing the kind of play that sent him to a top-100 ranking just four years ago.

“I just have to wait for my opportunities to come,” he said, “and then hopefully make the most of them.”