Eliot Spizzirri achieved something “amazing” last year. How much further can he go?

Of all the places to make his deepest ATP Tour run, Auckland is a, let’s just say interesting location for Eliot Spizzirri.

“My parents went on their honeymoon here,” the American told TENNIS.com earlier this week at the ASB Classic, “but they got divorced, so it’s not necessarily…I don’t know if it’s the best place, but I was excited to see it because they said good things.”

After winning a set of an ATP quarterfinal for the first time, the 24-year-old likely leaves New Zealand’s largest city with a new appreciation for it—in a year that’s already been new for him in many ways.

Spizzirri, whose name may be new to you, began the season inside the Top 100 for the first time, enabling him direct entry into the Australian Open. It will be the first Grand Slam main draw he has played without having qualifying or received a wild card.

The new certainty meant Spizzirri could conduct a new type of offseason.

“It was my first time having a chunk where I could focus on training for a Grand Slam,” Spizzirri says. “I wasn’t really training for three out of five sets [before].”

The ATP 250 in Auckland won’t be confused with the Aussie Open, but Spizzirri’s early returns are encouraging. In his first four matches at the ASB Classic—two in qualies, two in the main draw—he didn’t drop a set. That included a victory over Nuno Borges, the tune-up tournament’s No. 8 seed, and who ended Spizzirri’s breakthrough 2025 campaign in November.

“I think that was my seventh day in a row playing a match when I played him last year,” Spizzirri recalls. “So safe to say the body was a bit cooked.”

Including qualifying matches and matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, Spizzirri played 87 times last season, plus another 19 times in doubles. Add in the travel to relatively far-flung locations of Challenger tournaments—try and locate Nonthaburi, Jingshan and Brest without using Google Maps—and Spizzirri seemingly never stopped.

Yet after losing in the second round of Wimbledon qualifying last June, Spizzirri headed right back to the grass in Newport, Rhode Island. He had a good reason.

“Along with the US Open, this is definitely my favorite tournament of the year,” the New Englander said of the Hall of Fame Open. “I drive, it’s two-and-a-half hours from home. They've treated me amazing. I love this club.”

At the time, Spizzirri was ranked 128^th—the number of spots in the main draw of a major, though not the number of direct entries into it. While the Greenwich, Connecticut native said he doesn’t set ranking goals, he nonetheless acknowledged the magical number every tennis player straddling the Challenger and main tours has in mind.

“It would be amazing to get Top 100 by US Open,” Spizzirri said after a victory in Newport, “but who knows, I could get further than that.”

👉 Stream the ATP Challenger Tour all season long on the Tennis Channel app

Spizzirri would go on to reach four consecutive Challengers semifinals (in Newport, Granby, Bloomfield Hills and Lexington). How much did that streak boost his ATP ranking?

One single spot.

His US Open hopes seemed dashed, but it turned out Spizzirri was only one spot away from some good fortune. When Matteo Berrettini withdrew from the tournament with an injury, bumping Brandon Holt into the main draw, a wild card from the USTA opened up. Spizzirri was the recipient. There are Lucky Winners in tennis, too.

Spizzirri made the most of it, defeating Stefan Dostanic for 50 ranking points, $154,000 in prize money—and his very first Grand Slam main-draw win.

Flushing Meadows was a fitting spot for this milestone achievement. Growing up, Spizzirri trained at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, less than an hour from his parents’ home.

“It all started at Round Hill Club in Greenwich,” recalled Spizzirri, who began playing tennis at 5. “Met my coach (Patrick Hirscht), who’s still my coach to this day.

With a strong support system and surrounded by high-performance athletes—including his twin brother, Nicholas, a professional squash player—Spizzirri was set up for success. He did the rest, opting to take high school courses online to afford more time for training in Queens. Then he headed west for the next step of his tennis journey, to the University of Texas.

“My decision to go to Texas was purely because I thought that would give me the best chance to be a professional,” he says, but at the same time, “it was the best experience I've ever had.”

Spizzirri flourished in Austin, finishing the 2023 season ranked No. 1 in singles and No. 2 in doubles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. He finished his time in burnt orange with a 65-11 singles mark, and back-to-back ITA National Player of the Year honors.

It’s pretty cool having a community in Fairfield County and then also in Austin, Texas that support me, and try to help me try to reach my dreams.

Dreams might be the only thing this year that remains the same for Spizzirri. Only he knows the specifics, but for now, more deep runs at smaller tournaments, more regular appearances at 500s and 1000s, and more main-draw wins at majors would seem to fit the bill.

Spizzirri will need to summon his best to do that at the Australian Open: his first-round opponent is the wildly talented Joao Fonseca. But two things are in the underdog’s favor: Fonseca’s health is in question, and who did Spizzirri happen to beat to qualify for the US Open in 2024? The Brazilian prodigy.

When asked about his goals in Melbourne, Spizzirri hopes to simply enjoy his experience, one devoid of the stresses of qualifying.

That may include some fishing beforehand, in the noted hot spot of Auckland.

“I haven’t fished yet,” Spizzirri, a passionate angler, said after his win over Borges. “But I’m hoping to at some point.”

Hook ’em, Eliot.