Former world No.3 and 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem has joined 42-year-old Venus Williams in getting wildcard entry in to the Australian Open.
But among the many newest record of 5 gamers given locations for the primary grand slam of 2023, together with two French gamers, unhealthy boy Bernard Tomic stays ignored by event officers.
Tomic, at present ranked 462 on this planet,has jumped greater than 350 locations on the again of three ITF titles prior to now three months. The ITF tour is the bottom rung of the lads’s skilled tennis ladder.
The last two wildcards, two males and two ladies, will probably be handed out subsequent week however ought to he miss once more, Tomic could possibly be headed again to Australian Open qualifying, the place he misplaced within the opening spherical in 2022
Tomic, now 30, has performed in simply two Australian opens since 2017.
Thiem, an Australian Open finalist in 2020 who went on to grab his solely grand slam title on the US Open later that yr, returns after lacking final yr’s occasion attributable to a wrist damage which sidelined him for 9 months.
In the second half of 2022, the Austrian rose from outdoors the highest 350 to world No.102. He gained 22 of his final 33 matches – together with semi-final runs at ATP occasions – solely narrowly lacking immediately qualifying for the primary draw of AO 2023.
Thiem owns a profession win-loss report of 19-8 on the Australian Open, reaching the second week in 2017, 2018 and 2021 along with his runner-up end in 2020 the place he misplaced to Novak Djokovic in 5 units.
Americans Taylor Townsend and Christopher Eubanks, and French gamers Diane Parry and Luca Van Assche have been the opposite gamers awarded wildcards.
Six different Australians – Alexei Popyrin, Jason Kubler, Rinky Hijikata, Storm Hunter, Talia Gibson and Olivia Gadecki has already been given wildcards, together with Williams.
