Australian Open wildcards bidding to be the next Casey Dellacqua and Mark Philippoussis
Nothing beats performing at home, and this group of Aussie outsiders are ready to challenge the world’s best at the 2021 Australian Open.
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The Aussie giant-killer. You know the type at Australian Open time.
Underdog, possibly gifted a wildcard and without a sponsor, a qualifier, or maybe barely inside the top 100 in the world rankings.
At Melbourne Park, with a raucous home crowd riding every groundstroke, dreams (and significant prizemoney) can be made.
Think Casey Dellacqua’s unlikely run to the fourth round in 2008, wearing clothing off the Target rack and with her grandmother roaring from the stands.
Or a 19-year-old Mark Philippoussis – long before becoming a dual grand slam finalist and Davis Cup great – up-ending then-world No.1 Pete Sampras in round three of the 1996 edition.
World No.155 Alex Bolt’s improbable charge to the last 32 in 2019 saw him eliminate two players who’d been ranked in the top 10 before fourth-ranked Alex Zverev finally stopped him.
And who could forget Jelena Dokic’s effort to go from being unranked a year earlier to storming into an Open quarter-final as a 187th-ranked wildcard?
Another Australian Open is barely a month away and a new cast of characters are jostling to be the next Dellacqua, Philippoussis, Bolt or Dokic.
This time their chances of a blazing run might just be a bit better.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already wreaked havoc on the tennis tour, with few tournaments going ahead last year.
It’s also resulted in the start date of the Open being pushed back to February 8, but players will also have to endure a 14-day quarantine period on arrival in Melbourne.
Coming off little tennis and with a barrage of coronavirus tests to negotiate, the world’s best players may be more vulnerable, according to Philippoussis.
“It’s going to be tough for everybody, even the top guys,” Philippoussis told the Herald Sun this week.
“Whoever works harder in the off-season, you’ll see them having the best results.”
Here are five Australian candidates – outside of the obvious ones – who could barnstorm their way to Australian Open fame.
ALEXEI POPYRIN
Anyone with a smidgen of interest in the Australian tennis scene knows this 21-year-old kid – and even more casual fans would’ve seen him reach the third round the past two years. However, world No.113 Popyrin is likely to again require a wildcard entry as he figures out how to harness his on-court weapons.
He upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Dominic Thiem at Melbourne Park in the past two years, although both opponents retired after Popyrin had won two sets.
CHRIS O’CONNELL
Left an injury-chequered past behind with an extraordinary 2019 season, where he won a tour-leading 82 matches to slash his ranking from outside the top 1000 to the cusp of double-digits.
O’Connell enjoyed a breakthrough moment with his maiden grand slam match win at last year’s US Open and he’d love to add to the tally in Melbourne.
Armed with a wildcard and a majestic one-handed backhand, the 26-year-old’s time has arrived.
DARIA GAVRILOVA
Gavrilova gatecrashed the world’s top 20 in 2017, in part thanks to back-to-back round-of-16 finishes at the Australian Open.
So why is she on a potential giant-killer list?
Well, tour life hasn’t been so kind in recent years, with foot setbacks sidelining her, leaving her confidence shattered and her ranking in free fall.
Gavrilova tumbled all the way to No.788 in September, but a round one victory at the French Open signalled she was on the way back.
THANASI KOKKINAKIS
Once rated the equal of Nick Kyrgios, Kokkinakis has endured a horror patch of injuries across the past five years that stopped him realising his immense potential.
Boasts the titanic scalps of Roger Federer, Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych, and has won grand slam matches at Melbourne Park before.
Needed a wildcard to gain direct entry and his No.260 world ranking belies how dangerous of a floater he will be in the draw.
MADDISON INGLIS
The quietly spoken West Australian enjoyed her best season in 2019, slashing her WTA ranking more than 200 places to No.130, then improving to a career-high 113 last year.
Inglis will contest the Australian Open main draw for just the second time, after last playing it in 2016 following her wildcard playoff triumph.
Inglis turns 23 in the next fortnight and any Open success would edge her closer to a long-awaited top-100 debut.
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