Australian Open wildcard Lizette Cabrera opens up on the loss of her father and tennis fanatic Ronnie

Ronnie Cabrera was the ultimate tennis fanatic. His daughter Lizette opens up about losing her dad and how grateful she was for a final goodbye.

Nick Kyrgios took a little while to find his groove. Picture: Jack Thomas/Getty Images

He’d been alongside her every step of the way, which is why Lizette Cabrera knows, when she looks into the stands next week, there’s going to be moment where it will hit.

Her father Ronnie first put a racquet in her hand when she was old enough to hold one, he then nurtured her game from an early age and worked in a Brisbane abattoir to fund her development.

He was a tennis fanatic who simply loved the sport to the point where he wouldn‘t talk about anything else.

Unfortunately, in September Ronnie Cabrera died after a battle with cancer.

“It was the toughest thing I have ever gone through,” Cabrera said. ”It has definitely given me more perspective on court just because my dad loved tennis.

“Whenever someone brought up me or my tennis it was like, ‘Stop talking.’ He would love this time of year.

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Lizette Cabrera will be thinking of her dad during the Australian Open. Picture: Getty Images

“At the Brisbane International he would be at the courts from morning until late at night just watching tennis.

“It‘s going to be weird, this is my first Australian Open without him … it definitely gives me extra motivation as I just want to make him proud.”

Cabrera, 23, had to dash home from the US to be by his bedside after playing in the first round at Flushing Meadow, where she lost in three sets to Danka Kovinic. With the help of Tennis Australia and the Australian government, she was able to get a flight home and then an exemption from quarantine to be by her father‘s bedside.

“I was in the US and then I pulled out of the French Open and it was a crazy time trying to get a flight home,” Cabrera said.

“I managed to get home but then I was in quarantine. I managed to get an exemption to go and see him for two or three hours a day.

“I made it back on the Sunday and he passed on the Friday. I‘m so glad I made it back as it was such a really tough time for my family.

“Mentally, to be around them, as I know I wouldn‘t be where I am today without him.”

Lizette Cabrera in action at last year’s Australian Open. Picture: Mark Stewart

Her mother Maria will be in the stands at Melbourne Park when she makes her fourth appearance at the Australian Open after receiving a wildcard. Currently ranked 140, Cabrera reached a career-high of 115 last year after making the quarter-finals of the Hobart International.

She is confident a pre-season spent training alongside world No.1 Ash Barty in Brisbane has her equipped to break her grand slam drought.

“It was pretty cool to have the world No.1 in Brisbane and we get to hit with her,” Cabrera said.

“She‘s just so normal and down to earth. She is just so super-professional, takes care of the little things and always works super-hard.”

RUSTY KYRGIOS’ WEIRD RETURN AS ASH SHOWS NO HANGOVER

Scott Gullan

The best way to describe Nick Kyrgios’ return to tennis is that he looked like someone who hadn’t played a competitive match for 344 days.

After showing all sorts of rust in the opening set – which included a miscued underarm serve – the Australian star eventually willed himself into the contest against little known Frenchman Alexandre Mueller.

The end result was an injury scare and a less than spectacular three-set victory 3-6 6-4 7-6 (4) – in the opening round of the Murray River Open.

Kyrgios admitted he felt “strange” at the start of the match given his lack of recent match play.

“It was fun to be out there again, and obviously good to win, but I had a couple injuries coming through this last year,” he said.

“Actually more so than I would playing. So I just wanted to see what my body would do, and it actually did pretty well.

“After the first set I could have panicked and been a bit like … because I know what would have happened if I lost that, maybe it would have blown up everything.

“So I’m actually happy the way I dealt with it and I just drew from experience. I was nice to myself.”

Nick Kyrgios shows some frustration en route to his Murray River Open victory. Picture: William West/AFP

After starting the match wearing a compression bandage on his left calf, Kyrgios called a medical time-out at the end of the second set to have treatment on his left knee.

“It was just a bit of hot cream, really, just to warm it up a bit as it gets a bit stiff at times,” Kyrgios said.

“I’ve had knee problems a lot but nothing too major. I just wanted to get some hot cream and that was it.”

Mueller, 24, certainly defied his world ranking of 207 by keeping his more decorated opponent in check in the opening stanza, taking 26 minutes to win the first set 6-3.

Eventually Kyrgios, who seemed almost bored at times on Court 3, got going on the back of his booming serve which was regularly in the 216kmph territory.

He took four break points to gain the crucial advantage at 3-1 in the second set but rather than sprinting to the finish he spluttered around again.

After handing the break back, the 2015 Australian Open quarter-finalist was forced to break Mueller’s serve for a second time to claim the set 6-4.

The highlight of the third set came when Kyrgios needed something special in the tie-break, producing his fastest serve of the match with a second serve of 220kmph to win the opening point.

Kyrgios, 25, revealed in the lead-up to his return that he didn’t pick up a racquet for five months during the COVID-19 pandemic as he settled into life in Canberra with family and friends.

Alexandre Muller returns a forehand against Kyrgios. Picture: William West/AFP

After initially struggling to get motivated for a return – he hadn’t played since February last year in Acapulco, Mexico – the world No. 47 recently stepped up his training and declared he felt mentally refreshed coming into the Australian Open.

Kyrgios will now play fellow Aussie Harry Bourcher who got a late call-up into the tournament and then defeated countryman Marc Polmans in the opening round.

There were plenty of other promising Australian results on Tuesday with Jordan Thompson fighting back after dropping the first set to defeat Italy’s Gianluca Mager 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the Great Ocean Road Open.

Journeyman James Duckworth, 29, showed he had returned in fine style following shoulder surgery with an impressive 6-3 6-4 victory over Czech Tomas Machac.

At the other end of the spectrum teenager Dane Sweeny won his first ever ATP Tour main draw match.

The 19-year-old from the Gold Coast, who received a wildcard into the Great Ocean Road Open, seized his opportunity by defeating Korean Ji Sung Nam 7-6 7-5.

Alexei Popyrin kept his love affair with Melbourne Park alive – he’s made the third-round of the Open the past two years – winning a hard-fought slog against Croatia’s Borna Gojo 6-7 7-6 7-6.

Barty straight down to business

It was back to the business of winning for world No. 1 Ash Barty who showed no hangover from almost 12 months on the sidelines.

In her first competitive match since February 29 last year, the Australian Open favourite was clinical in dismissing Romania’s Ana Bogdan 6-3 6-3.

“I had so much fun out here today,” Barty said.

Ash Barty lost only six games in her long-awaited return.

“This is one of my favourite places to play.

“It’s been a while, I miss this feeling of being able to compete. I felt great in Adelaide (exhibition match) and even better tonight.”

While Nick Kyrgios struggled in his return from an extended break, Barty quickly settled into her rhythm on Margaret Court Arena.

Her long-time coach, Craig Tyzzer, promised a more powerful version of the 2019 French Open champion and there is no doubt the extended pre-season training has seen a noticeable physical transformation.

It was just the lack of match play which was the unknown for last year’s Open semi-finalist but Barty quickly put those concerns to bed.

She cruised through the opening set against the world No. 93 Bogdan and then went up another level as the match wore on.

Her serve was the most positive aspect of her return with Bogdan never getting a look at a breakpoint opportunity until the final game of the night.

The Romanian did show some fight late saving two match points on her serve at 2-5 and then had a chance to stay in the match in the following game as Barty got nervous trying to close out the match.

Barty looked in great touch ahead of the Australian Open.

A couple of speed wobbles, including a double-fault, raised eyebrows briefly before a booming ace delivered the victory on her fourth match point.

Barty will now play the 16th seed Czech Marie Bouzkova in the third round of the Yarra Valley Classic.

She is on a potential semi-final showdown with Serena Williams who defeated Australia’s Daria Gavrilova in her opening round contest.

Earlier Australian wildcard Destanee Aiava was brought down to earth by 16th seed Laura Siegemund 6-2 6-2.

Aiava, a former teenage prodigy, was coming off the back of an impressive first-round victory but she was overwhelmed by the consistency of her German opponent.

Originally published as Australian Open wildcard Lizette Cabrera opens up on the loss of her father and tennis fanatic Ronnie