The story behind wildcard Rinky Hijikata
RISING Aussie tennis star Rinky Hijikata was in Sydney when he received a phone call from his coach Mark Draper in mid-December. Draper, the brother of 2005 Australian Open mixed doubles winner, Scott, was calling to inform the 21-year-old that he had received a wildcard into the Australian Open main draw. “(He said it’s) time […]
Tiafoe confident ahead of AO as Kooyong crowd treated to entertaining spectacle
WORLD number 17 Frances Tiafoe is bullish on his chances at next week’s Australian Open. There is saying you want to win a major, and there is confidently declaring it. Tiafoe has set that as a realistic goal ahead of this year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The American enters the Australian Open off the back of […]
Aussies de Minaur, Hijikata get wins ahead of Australian Open
TOP-RANKED Australian male Alex de Minaur has carried his strong form from the United Cup to Melbourne, defeating Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-4 in the Kooyong Classic opener on Tuesday. De Minaur has repeatedly spoken about his love for playing in front of his home crowd and representing his country, and, donning the green and gold, […]
Norrie produces Paire of Benoit bagels
SEVENTH seed Brit, Cameron Norrie has advanced through to the second round at the US Open courtesy of an unusual straight sets win over Frenchman Benoit Paire. Taking on the former top 20 player – who now resides at 189th in the men’s singles – Norrie might not have the weapons that his opponent has, […]
2022 US Open preview
THE 2022 US Open kicks off tonight with the world’s best tennis players to converge on Flushing Meadows. Both fields are wide open and we take a look who the favourites and contenders are, as well as some of the first round matches to watch. MEN’S SINGLES: The favourite: World number one Daniil Medvedev has […]
Saville upsets top seed Pegula in Washington
AUSTRALIAN Daria Saville has flown the flag for the nation across the tennis globe by defeating top seed Jessica Pegula in the WTA 250 event in Washington. Saville was one of only two Australians to win on the day – while a massive seven lost – and advanced through to the quarter finals of that […]
Mandlik reaps reward over Riske in San Jose
AMERICAN 21-year-old Elizabeth Mandlik has won through to the second round of the San Jose WTA 500 event, claiming her first ever WTA Tour main draw win in the process. Having stunned top qualifying seed Jil Teichmann to reach the main draw, Mandlik took down compatriot and former Top 20 player Alison Riske in straight […]
Around the Tours: Barty overruns Coco
WORLD number one Ash Barty produced a strong comeback to put away teenage prodigy Coco Gauff in three sets at the Adelaide International last night. In one of the matches of the day, Gauff took the first set against the rusty Australian, and went 4-2 up seemingly set to advance to the quarter finals. Instead, […]
Next-Gen ATP focus: Kuhn stuns Ramos-Vinolas in 125 event
IN a new focus on the Next-Gen eligible players of the ATP Tour, we take a look at how a number of top talents performed across the Challenger Tour. With no active ATP Tour events, a few lower ranked young guns got to shine against more experienced opponents. We focused in on tournaments with an […]
Australian Open: Qualifying Rounds 2/3 – Former Wimbledon Junior runner-up and ATP Top 10 pick advance to main draw
THE first of the main draw qualifiers are through to the Australian Open starting Monday after a number of men’s and women’s finals were played yesterday. The remainder of the finals will be played today, with 32 qualifiers all-up – 16 men and 16 women – making it through to the final 128 players who […]
