Australian Open 2024 news: Fans urged to get ‘loud’ ahead of Storm Hunter’s third round clash

Storm Hunter’s coach Nicole Pratt has called on the Australian public to help keep driving the qualifier’s dream Melbourne Park run.

Storm Hunter’s coach Nicole Pratt has backed the Australian qualifier to “keep riding the wave” at Melbourne Park as she called on fans to get “loud” to help keep the world doubles No.1’s dream run alive at her home grand slam.

Pratt predicted Hunter could break into the world top 50 in singles this year and said “why not?” when quizzed on the 29-year-old’s prospects of continuing her career-best run at the Australian Open.

After advancing past the second round for the first time in her career at a grand slam, Hunter will be striving to upset No.9 seed Barbora Krejcikova in the third round on Rod Laver Arena on Friday night.

Having climbed the top of the world doubles rankings last year, Hunter has already secured a $255,000 payday for reaching the third round after battling with just $1000 in her bank account following a shoulder injury five years ago.

Pratt said Hunter now had the belief in her game that “she belongs” as a singles player and had benefited from a surge in confidence following a career-best season in doubles.

After an emotional second-round win over German Laura Siegemund, Pratt said Hunter was primed for her next challenge.

Storm Hunter is riding the wave at Melbourne Park. Picture: William West/AFP

“I just say ‘why not?’ That’s kind of my response a lot of the time,” Pratt said when asked of Hunter’s chances of a third-round upset.

“‘You are there, you have a racquet in your hand, the lines are the same for both players. Why not you?’ That will be my message to Storm and keep riding the wave as long as she can.

“Krejcikova is a tough opponent, she is top 10 in the world, she has won Roland Garros.

“But the good thing is that Storm has played her a lot in doubles so she is used to her ball speed, how she plays, what type of shots or returns in particular that she likes to play under pressure and her serve as well.

“We’ll do our homework and prepare a game plan as best we can.

“She really wants all of Australia to get behind her. She will really appreciate that.

“And she wants them to be loud. Be as loud as you want … she wants it loud and that’s what she would love.”

While Hunter soared to the top of the doubles rankings, she has made improving her singles ranking, which sits at 180, a priority.

Pratt was confident Hunter had the potential to break into the top 50 as soon as this year if she could keep up her form.

“Everyone keeps saying ‘Storm’s a top-50 singles player, no question’,” Pratt said.

“It’s just been a matter of keeping her on court. The doubles has been a focus in terms of establishing herself out on tour, financially enabling her to invest back in her career.

“She didn’t have that money before so she has been doing it tough and now she has really put herself in a positive position.

“She has clearly proven that she is capable of beating high-level players.

“The way she has competed at Billie Jean King Cup and what we have done in that competition is largely due to her ability to step up in big matches and beat quality opponents.

“I think she is capable. We just have to manage the schedule because she is motivated to stay No.1 in doubles … and her goal is to win a grand slam. She has gone close with the final (at Wimbledon).

“The first step is inside the top 100, then the next step will be the top 50.

“Her results here already will help, regardless of the next result, in terms of what singles tournaments she can get into.”

Pratt said confidence had been the key to Hunter’s charge through qualifying and into the main draw at Melbourne Park.

“The difference bringing the improvement with Storm is that she feels she belongs,” she said.

“The fact that she qualified at the French Open, at Wimbledon and then got a wildcard at the US Open, she believes.

“So it’s just a matter of staying healthy and accumulating match wins and that will take her where I think she belongs.

“The fact that she has had a year playing big, big matches on packed stadium courts is holding her in good stead in singles.

“The raising of her ball speed, accuracy, managing her emotions out on court, it is getting better and better.

Storm Hunter celebrates her second round win. Picture: David Caird

“She is 29 years of age and it is interesting that she thinks she is at the peak. I’ll touch wood on that because with Storm it has been a crazy journey with the amount of injuries that she has had over time and a lot of them unexplainable.

“She has an underlying auto-immune (condition) that she has to manage on a monthly basis. She has done incredibly well given the challenges and the barriers that have been there for her physically.

“She takes medication every month to manage that and you never know when potentially a flare is going to come up … but she is such a professional, she is on top of that now.

“She knows when she is potentially at risk and then that’s when we just pull back the training a little bit to make sure she is giving herself the best chance to recover.

“But when you are in a situation like this with grand slams and qualifying, it’s three weeks, it’s high intensity, it’s high load and the fact that she can get through that (second-round) match against Siegemund was pretty awesome.”

Hunter has a full schedule at Melbourne Park for singles, doubles and mixed doubles and Pratt said her ambitions this season would be a juggling act.

“There are going to be some decisions that need to be made and that’s a good position to be in if she needs to drop one of the events for the singles because doing all three is tough,” Pratt said.

“Ideally it would be good not to have the mixed doubles, so she can recover and prepare, but at the same time I don’t mind. The players are on a high, they are feeling good.

“Going out and playing some pressure point in mixed doubles is just as great as a practice (session), probably to a certain degree even better so long as it’s not too much of a physical load.”