The Score at the Open: Who is the best Aussie basketballer on the men’s tour?

French star Gael Monfil got up close with pair of Melbourne United NBL stars at the Australian Open, but he admits there’s at least one better hooper than him on the tour. And he’s an Aussie. THE SCORE AT THE OPEN

• Australian Open 2020: live scores, schedule
• Aussie underdog heckled by home fans

If Nick Kyrgios had a choice, the Australian would probably choose basketball over tennis.

With good reason it seems, too, as athletic French star Gael Monfils, a noted basketball aficionado himself, wasted no time anointing Kyrgios the Tour’s best baller.

“I go for Nick Kyrgios,” Monfils said, alongside Melbourne United stars Shawn Long and Melo Trimble ahead of next Wednesday night’s Australian Open-NBL showcase at Melbourne Arena.

“I’m very close.”

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French Tennis star Gael Monfils meets Melbourne United imports Shawn Long and Melo Trimble. Picture: Tennis Australia

A quick Google search verifies explosive baseliner Monfils really is a beast on both courts.

The same cannot, however, be said about Long, or Trimble for good measure.

“I pretty much envisioned myself playing baseball actually,” Long said after struggling to keep a couple of serving attempts within the confines of Show Court 21.

But Monfils’ basketball form certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

“He looks shifty, a real slithery guy,” Long said. “He’s fast as hell on the court, got a good first step so probably is a decent hooper.”

Come on @masonsixtencox I paid good money for these seats did you have to sit in front me 😂😂😂 #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/d1WVzBHcat

— danielgopies (@TheDak04) January 24, 2020

PIE IN HOT SEAT

WE have all been there.

Be it at a concert, on a plane, in a theatre or at a sporting event, there is a level of anticipation to see who the lucky punter will be sitting beside or in front of you.

The bigger the event the greater the dread.

One punter drew the short straw on Friday night, sitting on Rod Laver Arena for the Roger Federer-John Millman epic, sitting behind Collingwood giant Mason Cox .

The ruckman stands at 211cm – which made for some tough viewing for those behind him.

Fortunately, the punter, a Pies tragic it seems, saw the funny side of things.

“Come on @masonsixtencox I paid good money for these seats did you have to sit in front me,” Danielgopies (@TheDak04) tweeted.

Cox duly replied yesterday.

“Apologies mate,” the American Pie replied.

Simona Halep of Romania has not watched any Tennis while in Australia. Picture: AAP.

TENNIS? NOT UNLESS IT’S MY OWN GAME

Don’t be too surprised to see Simona Halep exploring Melbourne again today because the Romanian watches next to no tennis in her spare time.

So much so, the slam wanderer Halep was completely oblivious to the carnage around here in the women’s draw before getting to Melbourne Park yesterday, save for gutsy Aussie John Millman’s epic loss to Roger Federer.

“No, I didn’t watch (any tennis),” Halep said.

“I was walking in the city a little bit to relax myself.

“But I heard Federer had a great match, so Millman was great. Congrats to him.”

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland went down in just 49 minutes in her loss to Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Picture: Getty Images

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT

Seventy-Five minutes is a long time in women’s tennis.

So long that 32 matches in the first week at the Australian Open were decided inside an hour and 15 minutes.

The clubhouse leader so far is Belinda Bencic with the No.6 seed saying goodbye yesterday in just 49 minutes, smoked 6-0 6-1 by Anett Kontaveit.

In contrast, the opening match on Rod Laver Arena today provided the longest set of the tournament with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Karolina Pliskova slugging it out for 75 minutes in the first set.

GRAND

There was an early cheer at Melbourne Park but it had nothing to do with what was happening on the courts. Loyal followers of this column were cheering the John Sadler-trained Score (she is out of Written Tycoon) who easily won the opening race at Caulfield.

SLAM

What other major sporting event would give journalists cab charges to get themselves home after a mix-up with shuttle buses? The answer is none yet apparently some our international visitors were miffed they had to go and find the cabs themselves despite having a taxi rank a top-spin lob away from the media centre.

THE WHISPER

Is an Australian tennis legend set to make a political statement tomorrow night during Ash Barty’s fourth-round match?

Originally published as The Score at the Open: Who is the best Aussie basketballer on the men’s tour?