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Novak faces heckler post victory! | 00:46
Alex de Minaur has been a leading proponent of the depth of our tennis stocks, declaring prior to the Australian Open that the nation was once again a force of world tennis.
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But the burden has again fallen on the shoulders of the nation’s leading man to ensure there is a local presence in the second week of the Australian Open after hard-working Sydneysider Aleks Vukic fell narrowly shy of another career breakthrough on Friday night.
Vukic played magnificently in a match against English star Jack Draper that finished at 1am but was denied 6-4 2-6 5-7 7-6 (5) 7-6 (10-8) in a third round clash that lasted 3hr 58min.
With key members in the supporting ranks arriving injured at the Australian Open or underdone, others dispatched due to testing draws and the remainder below peak form, it is left to the Demon to deliver. And never has there been a greater opportunity for the Aussie.
The world No.8 is yet to progress to the last eight at home and faces his most challenging test to date in this Australian Open against Francisco Cerundolo on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday afternoon as he bids to make the last 16 for the fourth straight year.
Should he progress against the Argentinian, his Rd of 16 clash will be emerging American Alex Michelsen, who ousted former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, or 19th seeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who is a high-class player.
All will present a difficult challenge. But facts are facts. It is not like he is facing Jannik Sinner, who whipped him in straight sets in 2022. Nor will the opponent be the 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, who had a point to prove after some Covid-19 related byplay when thumping the Sydneysider for the loss of five games. Even Andrey Rublev, who he lost to in a five set thriller last year, was the No.5 seed.
The time is now and de Minaur even has a schedule to suit. While some raised eyebrows raised about his day-time scheduling on Rod Laver Arena, the Aussie is someone who prefers the heat in the court and the balls as they add a little extra buzz to his shots.
Against an Argentinian renowned for his clay court nous, the quicker the conditions are, the better it will be for de Minaur in his bid to reach the last 16 … and take a step closer to another milestone in his career.
By virtue of a burgeoning profile due to his top 10 ranking, de Minaur was a busy man in the week prior to the Australian Open, mixing training sessions with exhibitions against Carlos Alcaraz along with sponsorship speeches at Kooyong and other events around town.
But de Minaur delights in being busy and taking the lead role for his country.
“I think probably the biggest thing is you have to realise that your days are going to be long, right? There’s no hiding behind the facts,” he said.
“Whether you’re spending four, five, six hours just purely working on yourself, whether it’s on court or off court, whether it’s rehab, recovery, whatever it may be, in the gym, often there’s long hours off the court, as well, with media commitments and things of the sort.
“It’s really about planning. It’s about having a healthy balance. I’ve got a great team around me that helps me in every kind of step of the way.
“As you win more matches, there’s going to be more media attention. But for me, nothing can change who I am as a person and what I need to do on the court.
“The priorities are always going to be what I do on the court. That’s trying to improve and be a better version of myself than I was the day before. That’s my number one priority.”
GREEN AND GOLD HOPES FOR AUSSIE BRAVEHEART
In the aftermath of Aleks Vukic’s heartbreaking loss to Draper, the Aussie remained professional to the core, congratulating the Englishman on a brilliant performance before heading straight to the exercise to warm down.
It has been a gruelling, though rewarding, Australian Open for the 28-year-old, who reached the third round for the first time in a major at his 11th attempt and demonstrated he has the capacity to push even further with his wins over Seb Korda and effort against Draper.
The finest line can separate the victor from the vanquished, as evidenced in a statistical breakdown of what was a thrilling encounter on Margaret Court Arena.
At the end of an epic five setter, Draper had won 178 points to Vukic’s 174. As evidence of the quality, the winner count from both combatants far outweighed the unforced error count and, in truth, it was one of those matches where both players deserved a win.
“(It’s) very bittersweet but … I have nothing to be ashamed of. I played a really good match from my end (and) left it all out there,” Vukic said.
“Jack is an incredible competitor who I have a lot of respect for. Unfortunately, one of us had to win. So congrats to him.”
There may be a green-and-gold lining for the Sydneysider, who was supported courtside by Australia’s Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt and his senior assistant Jaymon Crabb. Vukic may not have won the match, but he must have earned their admiration.
It may well be that while victory did not fall his way on Friday night, national honours could well do so given his deeds this week and the issues that plagued the other Aussie hopefuls with a Davis Cup tie on the horizon against Sweden at the end of the month.
Stalwarts Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Alexei Popyrin are all either injured or battling illness, while Nick Kyrgios has been named but has to be in doubt as well given the abdominal issue that plagued him at Melbourne Park this week.
Thompson, who reached the Rd of 16 at the US Open, said he would not play again until righting a foot issue that has been troubling him. Kokkinakis, clearly, has fears he will require surgery for a pectoral problem that has plagued him for years. Popyrin has been battling illness and other issues as well. And as for Nick? In the infancy of his comeback, niggles like the one he has now will surface.
And there is still no word on whether Max Purcell will be available as he serves a provisional doping suspension for a breach of method.
Vukic, whose ranking sits in the mid-60s on a live estimate, is the fourth-positioned honour and must be under serious consideration.
“Obviously, yeah, representing Australia would be such a privilege. I get to experience (the Aussie support) week in, week out, and obviously it would be in a different format if it does happen,” Vukic said.
“I want to accomplish as much as I can. Whether that’s going deep in a slam, representing (Australia) in Davis Cup or going deep in Masters (events), I want to push whatever I can.”
TENNIS’ DARK UNDERBELLY COMES TO THE SURFACE AGAIN
Revelations an investigation had been launched into suspicious betting activity on two matches involving Bernard Tomic provided a reminder of a murky aspect of sport.
It is now nine years since the Australian Open was rocked by a joint BBC and Buzzfeed investigation into what it alleged was widespread match-fixing in tennis.
It sent shockwaves through the sport though, in truth, several of the documented incidents had been covered in both Australia and elsewhere in the world. But it was not a good look on the eve of the first major of the year with the global spotlight on Melbourne.
That matches are fixed in tennis is scarcely a surprise given the rapid increase of gambling in sport and the spreading tentacles of organised crime. It is an issue every sport faces.
The details dripped with diamonds given the names of players who had been approached, with Novak Djokovic and Thanasi Kokkinakis among those to publicly state that they had been approached and turned down offers in the infancy of their careers.
The codenames used were befitting of a Bond film and the crime rings were based in locations the master spy would be familiar with sinking a martini.
A favourite was the “first set specialist”, a player of renown said to be magnificent at manipulating matches with slow starts. Eyebrows would be raised if his name, as rumoured, became public.
Russian Nikolay Davydenko, a genuine top-liner, was dogged by accusations throughout his career, while 2021’s shock Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev also faced allegations.
This reporter has in the past sat with police tasked with investigating match fixing as they assessed suspicious matches.
Red flags are raised by abnormal betting patterns but in a sport where points can be manipulated via double faults, for example, proving the crime is far from easy.
In Australian investigations phones and laptops have been seized, with the information gleaned from this form of investigative work more reliable than trusting the eye.
It is not uncommon for players and officials at lower level to be sanctioned and banned for fixing, with Australians among them.
2025 Australian Open tennis. Bernard Tomic in action qualifying against Jozef Kovalik. Tomic feels the heat. Picture: David CairdSource: News Corp AustraliaNick Lindahl, who played Australian Opens and knocked off Tomic in his first professional match in a regional Victorian Challenger tournament in his early teens, was banned for seven years for fixing a match in Toowoomba, with two other Aussies sanctioned.
Queenslander Isaac Frost was also criminally sanctioned for fixing and drug charges as well.
The saddest case this journalist covered was that of former Australian Open boys champion Oliver Anderson, who was lured into fixing by Frost, who headed a Queensland ring. His success at Melbourne Park came in 2016, a fortnight after the Buzzfeed report dropped.
Clearly the bombshell did not register, for nine months later he was fixing games in a Challenger event in Traralgon. The right-hander was a fine talent with a racquet in hand but a terrible actor as a fixer, with his efforts to throw points and games obvious.
The Morwell Magistrates Court can be a bleak scene but it was depressing to see a young man with talent facing the consequences of throwing the first set of a match in order to receive enough money to pay off a debt.
He avoided jail and was fined $500 but banned from the circuit afterwards after Magistrate Charles Tan said there were widespread consequences associated with match fixing.
“The impact is far-reaching, not for one particular victim, but everyone who has placed a bet on the sporting contest, or any sporting contest,” he said.
After serving a lengthy ban, Anderson returned to tennis last year competing on the ITF Tour in Mexico in May and has rebuilt his ranking to 795.
As the Australian Open began this week, the 26-year-old was a world away from the spotlight when beaten in the first round of a $15,000 tournament held indoors in Norway.
As for Tomic, who was easily beaten in qualifying in the opening round of this Australian Open and has spent the past couple of seasons at lower-runs of the tour, The Age has reported that he declined to discuss the investigations.
The former Wimbledon quarterfinalist was well beaten in his match against Roman Safiullin, who lost a tight affair with Thanasi Kokkinakis this week, in the match under question.
After complaining that he was suffering Covid-19 during the match, Tomic was spotted walking in the corridors outside Rod Laver Arena confused as to his whereabouts.
A couple of days later he said; “Due to illness, I just couldn’t fire on all cylinders. As much as I tried, I didn’t have the energy to fight. I’m going to do everything it takes to get back to the top.”
It is reported there is no current investigation into the former world No.17 and there is no suggestion that Tomic did anything untoward, only that an investigation into him was raised.
JUST A REMINDER THAT THE AO REALLY HASN’T FIXED ITS LATE NIGHT PROBLEM…
There are points that are laboured and there are easy put away volleys.
Discussions surrounding late night finishes at the Australian Open fall into both brackets and are again surfacing in 2024.
The AO has made a move to reduce the likelihood of the madness where matches finish well after midnight by shifting start times forward 30 minutes on the main stadium courts.
But the claim that introducing a Sunday start, as occurred last year, would solve bewitching hour finishes and not simply a money grab aimed at maximising profits was always dubious.
So it proved when three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev was ousted by impressive American qualifier Learner Tien in a second-round match that finished close to 3am on Friday. Draper, meanwhile, arrived in press past 2am on Saturday after his marathon win over Vukic.
Starting the play on stadium courts 30 minutes earlier is an improvement. It would help more if that half-hour occurred before the start of the night matches.
It is impossible to prevent outliers, though it feels like the odds of a near-dawn finish happening are increased should the Russian star be scheduled for a night match.
But every effort should be made to minimise the prospect as it is fair on no-one, from the fans and tournament staff having to find a way home or to their hotels to the victor.
Tien, who will play Corentin Moutet on Kia Arena on Saturday, did not conclude his press conference until nearly 4am on Friday morning and was then heading home to try to recover and rest.
While the adrenaline surge from his 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-7 (8) 1-6 7-6 (10-7) triumph still pulsing through his body, the sun would have risen by the time the 19-year-old slept.
The left-hander said he was feeling in reasonable shape despite the 4hr 48min marathon but was mindful that it was likely to be hours before he was able to fall asleep.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for a few hours with the adrenaline,” Tien said.
“I have so much adrenaline right now, (but) I have no idea. It will probably hit me like a tank tomorrow morning.”
It is worth noting that when matches finish so late, players and journalists regularly meet for a quick mixed-zone chat after the match, but at the AO the tournament’s preference is for press conferences.
AUSSIE REWARD COULD BOOST NEXTGEN EVENT
The deeds of both Tien and Joao Fonseca in Melbourne, among others, have shone the spotlight back on the ATP Tour Next Gen Championships held just a month ago in Jeddah.
The 20-and-under tournament, which features the eight top-ranked points scorers for the season, is proving to be a good pointer to future success on the tour.
And given its proximity in dates, it could be argued that there are merits in awarding the winner of the tournament a wildcard into the Australian Open as an added bonus, if they do not already have direct entry.
The most recent edition of the Next Gen Finals, which stars in round-robin and uses the Fast 4 format over five sets, was crammed with quality performers shaping as stars of the future.
Alex Michelsen, who will play Karen Khachanov on Saturday, Arthur Fils, who retired in the fourth set against Ugo Humbert on Friday night, Jakub Mensik, who ousted three-time grand slam finalist Casper Ruud, and China’s Juncheng Shang all earned direct entry into the 2025 AO courtesy of their ranking.
Nishesh Basavareddy, who took a set off 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the first round, earned a wildcard via a series of tournaments in America late last year.
But the champion Fonseca, who ousted world No.9 Andrey Rublev in the first round, and Tien both had to come through qualifying in order to secure a main draw spot in Melbourne.
Given what they have offered the tournament, it is certain the AO would have missed out if either had fallen in qualifying and the event is better for showcasing stars of the future.
Meanwhile, to highlight just how successful the event has proven when it comes to confirming future top-tier talents, foxsports.com.au delved back through the honour rolls.
After winning the 2017 addition, injury-plagued South Korean Hyeon Chung upset Djokovic on route to the AO semifinals the following January and is now on the comeback trail.
Rublev, who was the runner-up that year, has been a long-standing member of the top 10 and is a Masters level winner.
In 2018, three-time grand slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Australia’s favourite Alex de Minaur, who is now entrenched in the top 10.
The following year de Minaur finished second-best again when trumped by world No.1 and reigning AO champion Jannik Sinner.
The event was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic but returned in 2021 with four-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz defeating talented American Seb Korda in straight sets.
A couple of years ago Brandon Nakashima, who has endured a sound start to his career, edged Jiri Lehecka, who on Friday reached the 4th Rd with a straight sets win over Benjamin Bonzi.
The 2023 victor Hamad Medjedovic skipped a trip to Australia this year to focus on a lower-tier Challenger event in the hope of breaking into the top 100 and has ticked that goal.
