Ojakaar and Molder plant Estonian flag at US Open
When he was four years old, Oliver Ojakaar walked into MK Tennis club in Previn, Estonia and met a boy named Markus Molder.
Both of them loved tennis more than anything else and would hit for hours, always wanting to play more.
As they grew up, Markus and Oliver became best friends, pushing each other to get better and serving as a sounding board when problems arose.
Now they’re both 18 and, after training together for 11 years in Estonia, may well be a part of a men’s tennis renaissance in Estonia.
The Baltic nation has had some outstanding female players in recent years, including former world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit and Kaia Kanepi, who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 15 in 2012.
On the men’s side, besides Molder’s current coach Jurgen Zopp, things haven’t been as successful. But this week at the US Open Junior Championships, Molder and Ojakaar are showing that Estonia could very well soon be a player on the ATP Tour (currently Mark Lajal of Estonia is ranked No. 246.)
“We’re very lucky to have each other, at a young age from a small country, it’s amazing we had each other and pushed each other,” Molder said. “We have a rivalry and that has been so helpful, for both of us I think.”
Ojakaar added: “It’s nice, from the mental part of it, when you’re not playing that I have Markus to help and support me. He is someone I can hang with, someone I have known for so long, and forget about tennis with.”
Both Ojakaar, ranked No. 21 in the junior world rankings entering the US Open, and Molder, ranked No. 81, were on court onTuesday and both played exceptionally well.
Ojakaar won his first-round match against Sweden’s Kevin Edengren, 6-3 7-6, in an unusual way. Ojakaar trailed 6-2 in the second set tiebreak when a light sprinkle of rain fell over the court. After a 20-minute rain delay, during which Ojakaar admitted he was thinking about the third set, the Estonian came back on court and won the last six points to steal the breaker and the match.
Molder, meanwhile, ended up being in the match of the day and came close to notching a huge upset.
Molder struggled in the first set against No. 3 seed Cooper Williams, losing 6-2, but came back strong in the second, racing to a 5-2 lead and then holding off three break points while serving to level the match before taking the set 6-3.
In the final set, the two foes played a very long game with Molder winning 4-3, with Williams, a Wimbledon semi-finalist and Roland Garros quarter-finalist this year, finally breaking back to four-all. The match went to a super-tiebreak, and there Williams seemed to finally seize control, racing to an 8-2 lead.
With the partisan crowd, including some of Williams’ Harvard University teammates roaring, it seemed like Williams was going to win the breaker easily.
But Molder crept back to 9-7 before Williams finally ended it with an ace out wide.
“I was just trying to stay in the match as long as possible,” Williams said. “I was cramping, but I felt like I couldn’t roll over now, the crowd was so great for me.”
For the Estonian duo, their journey together has taught them many things, and they’ve seen changes at home. Ojakaar said tennis has become more of a cool sport in Estonia due to the popularity of Kanepi and Kontaveit.
“There are more courts and more people on them than before,” Ojakaar said. “Basketball is still very big, but tennis is getting there.”
Both players seem intent on trying their luck at pro tennis, as well.
“I know we have the drive and desire in both of us, and I think we’re going to make it on the pro tour,” Molder said. “It’s great that we can try to make it together.”
All the top seeds won Monday on the boys' side, with action continuing Wednesday in singles and doubles; one match sure to be exciting on Tuesday is a match-up between Wimbledon champ Henry Searle and rising young American Trevor Svajda.
Click here for a full list of results from the 2023 US Open Junior Championships.