Ajla Tomljanovic on teaming up with ex-boyfriend Nick Kyrgios: ‘It has been like a billion years’
Australia’s top female tennis player Ajla Tomljanovic and fellow star Nick Kyrgios broke up in 2017. Now they’re playing on the same team together, but Tomljanovic is adamant it will be ‘super fun’.
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The biggest tennis players in the world have descended on Sydney ahead of the inaugural United Cup, a precursor to the Australian Open.
With one of the world’s greatest men’s players of all time, Rafael Nadal, heading up the Spanish team, and Nick Kyrgios, Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic headlining the Aussie field at Sydney Olympic Park, the biggest games of the tournament and the final will all be played in the Harbour City.
“Win or lose, I just want to make the country proud because I think people appreciate that,” Tomljanovic, Australia’s top female player after the retirement of Ash Barty, told The Daily Telegraph.
“I feel the responsibility of representing Australia well on the court. Of course I would love to win every match I play on home soil, but for me it is also … for kids, if they are watching, to see positive things that I am doing out there.”
She continued: “I still feel more pressure from myself, that has just been my whole career, I have always set high goals and standards and I have always been tough on myself if I don’t meet it.”
“The pressure of the disappointment is big but you add this (being number one Australian female in the tournament) and it is balancing me out a little bit and to be in this position it means I am doing something right as well so I am trying to embrace it in a positive way.”
The United Cup is a $USD 15 million event that will see 18 teams play across Sydney, Brisbane and Perth from tomorrow (December 29) to January 4.
The world’s top 10 players have all received $USD 200k appearance fees, with more than $USD 3.5m alone paid out to the world’s top 30 players just for attending and playing in two group matches.
Other big names in competition include world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Petra Kvitova, Cameron Norrie, Alexander Zverev and Stan Wawrinka.
Australia will play Great Britain on Thursday and Friday, then Spain on Monday and Tuesday with Kyrgios scheduled for the biggest head-to-head clash of the tournament against Nadal on Monday night.
Each tie will feature four singles matches (two men’s and two women’s) with a mixed doubles clash to decide the clash if required.
De Minaur will be partnered with Tomljanovic in the Mixed Doubles while Kyrgios is to play alongside Zoe Hives. Kyrgios and Hives will take on Nadal, who is scheduled to arrive in Australia today, and Nuria Parrizas Diaz.
Coincidentally, Tomljanovic and Kyrgios dated several years ago. They were together from 2015 to 2017.
“It has been like a billion years ago, I only remember it because you guys bring it up really,” Tomljanovic said of playing on the same team as her ex.
“We haven’t really had the chance to hang out but this team is just so good at having good banter and camaraderie and however it goes is going to be a super fun week for all of us.”
Tomljanovic is single after splitting from Italian star Matteo Berrettini. She and Kyrgios split after hot-headed Kyrgios was seen leaving a London nightclub with two women.
Tomljanovic unfollowed him on Instagram the next day.
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Originally published as Ajla Tomljanovic on teaming up with ex-boyfriend Nick Kyrgios: ‘It has been like a billion years’
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