BENGALURU, May 15, 2026 (by Anirudh Suresh)
On April 10, 2023, Keegan Smith from the United States dropped outside the world’s Top 500 for the first time in 58 weeks, having first cracked the magic number in February 2022 after toiling hard for more than six years.
For the next two years, it was Groundhog Day for Smith on the rankings ladder: he did not drop below No. 653, yet he just couldn’t go past the No. 500 barrier, stuck between 500 and 700 for what felt like an eternity.
And then came the turning point: a freak scooter accident that would end up changing his fortunes in an unexpected way.
“Silly story, I was on a bird scooter in Germany, and I had my Tennis bag on and I fell and I broke my nose,” Smith revealed in a chat following his quarter-final win over Ognjen Milic at the Karnataka Open ATP 50 Challenger in Bengaluru.
“I came back to San Diego and I remember my dad telling me, ‘You know, you can just give up. You don’t need to do this.’ At that time I was really struggling: 27 and 600 in the world or something. But I was adamant that I was not going to give up. From that point onwards, I was clear that I was going to stay strong and start taking the sport seriously.”
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Smith wasn’t lying. At the time of writing this, the 27-year-old is ranked at a career-best 289 in the world. In the last six months, he’s won three ITF World Tennis Tour titles, and has now made it to the semi-finals of the ATP 50 Challenger in Bengaluru as the top seed. Victory in this tournament will propel the ex-UCLA man into the Top 250 for the first time in his career.
Interestingly, Smith had a similar rise four years ago in 2022, making it as high as 339 in the world, but he endured a drop-off which ended up putting him in limbo for three years. Yet there’s a big difference between his 2022 version and his 2026 self: Smith is no longer a ‘party boy’ and is now a hardworking man driven by success.
“I was just so young, and I thought success was going to come so easy. I don’t think I was ready [to make the jump],” Smith reflected on his drop-off four years ago.
“Some people on tour knew me as the guy who was having fun and partying too much. But I realized that I loved playing Tennis and that I really wanted to get to the top.
“I realized this wasn’t college anymore; that you can’t expect to party and expect to beat guys that are working very hard. So each day I started doing a better job, and I started believing in myself more when I was on court. It was a lot of small steps.”
Older and wiser, with much more experience under his belt, the 27-year-old feels that he is now ‘ready’ to make the jump he couldn’t four years ago.
“I know it sounds so silly, but it’s simple: whoever is going to work hardest here is going to the top. It doesn’t matter that I’m 6’6 and athletic, If I’m not working, I’m not making it to the top. I’m more grateful and I’m ready to make the jump now.
“I think I wasn’t ready back then, there was too much distraction. Now my sole focus is on Tennis and I’m ready for it.”
Like most professional tennis players grinding it out in the ITF and Challenger Circuit, Smith, too, dreams of breaking into the Top 100. Rather than focusing on the destination, though, the 27-year-old is keen on enjoying the process and the journey.
“I would love to be in the Top 100 in the world. I don’t have a particular goal of when, but whenever it happens. I think things happen when they happen and I’ve just been focusing each day to get better when I’m on court,” Smith said.
“The way that I’m working [right now], if I can keep this up, I’ll deserve to be there with the best. I’m just enjoying the ride and trusting myself.”
