Australia’s greatest battalion of males’s gamers at Roland Garros for a quarter-of-a-century will pile into the principle draw of subsequent week’s French Open – and at the very least one in all them goes to buck a dispiriting development.
That’s the encouraging forecast of Rinky Hijikata, one of many nine-strong contingent within the top-100 all searching for to change into the primary Australian man to achieve the second week of the claycourt slam singles in 17 years.
Getting trampled into the pink Paris grime earlier than the primary week’s out has change into a little bit of a grisly current ritual, far faraway from these Nineteen Sixties glory days when Rod Laver and co lifted the title seven occasions in eight years.
But 23-year-old Hijikata, nonetheless a little bit of a wide-eyed newbie on the ATP circuit, has been impressed by the rising energy of his sturdy band of Aussie buddies on tour to consider one in all them can change into the primary since Lleyton Hewitt, who obtained to the last-16 in 2007, to get pleasure from a equally deep run.
Starting with the principle man, Alex de Minaur.
“Demon’s going to be a threat on any surface he plays, a top-10 calibre player who’s had an incredible year,” Hijikata informed AAP, explaining how impressed he’s by working with world No.11 de Minaur in observe.
“He’s just beaten Rafa (Nadal) on clay and had some big results, so I don’t see any reason why he can’t go on a deep run in Paris.
“It is an inspiration, simply to have somebody round who’s as humble and devoted as he’s, and as beneficiant together with his time for the opposite Australian gamers.
“But it’s not just Alex. There are also a lot of guys that fly under the radar a little bit. Big Pop (Alexei Popyrin), clay’s maybe his favourite surface, he was boys’ champion here and he’s got the weapons to do a lot of damage on the surface.
“Chris O’Connell has performed loads, performed nicely on the grime additionally, and Tommo (Jordan Thompson) can play good tennis on the clay.
“There are definitely guys who can make a push next week, even if it’s not their preferred surface.”
And he consists of himself, in fact, whilst an absolute newbie on clay, feeling he can construct on his distinctive 2023 marketing campaign, which culminated in a superb wildcard run to the US Open fourth spherical.
“What I’ve already learned is that anything can happen on clay. My career up to this point has been full of surprises, so you never know.
“The best-of-five format helps me, I really feel like I’ve performed a few of my greatest tennis in grand slams.
“It’s kinda of been my first year of playing mainly tour events, it’s been really cool, a great experience. It’s been a little bit of a learning curve but I’m motivated, pumped to put some big results on the board – and feel I’m not far off.”
As the youngest of the 9 to characteristic within the top-100, the opposite, extra skilled Aussies have taken Hijikata underneath their wing.
“They’ve been great to me. I’m just trying to learn off their experiences and keep pushing every day, and, hopefully, all the Aussie boys will keep pushing each other to get better.”
Just one phrase of warning, although. When Australia final had 9 males within the first spherical in 1999, together with the third seed Pat Rafter and tenth seed Mark Philippoussis, nonetheless no person made the second week. Plus ca change….
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
