Don’t sweat it – teen sensation thrashed by Wimbledon champ but Emerson Jones loved every second

A landslide defeat was the risk when Tennis Australia gave the world’s best junior a wildcard into the Australian Open. She drew a thunderous opponent who wiped her away. Regardless, she was stoked for the experience.

Elena Rybakina and Emerson Jones shake hands after Rybakina's victory in their women's singles match at Melbourne Park. Picture: AFP

Emerson Jones has it. What is it? It is simply it. Impossible to define but it is what it is. You know it when you see it.

What a horror draw for the 16-year-old Queenslander. The world No. 1 junior might have beaten 117 of the other 127 women in the Australian Open draw. At 160cm, she faced the tallest of orders against Elena Rybakina. The scoreboard? Forget it. The kid did all right in her 6-1 6-1 defeat to the ex-Wimbledon champion. A 17-year-old Novak Djokovic lost 6-0 6-2 6-1 to Marat Safin in his first match at Melbourne Park before cobbling together a decent career.

A landslide defeat was the risk when Tennis Australia gave Jones a wildcard. She might draw a thunderous opponent who wiped her away. Lo, she drew a thunderous opponent who wiped her away. Rybakina served big and unloaded her trademark, untouchable groundstrokes to bulldoze Jones, who appeared suitably shell-shocked against one of the glamazons of the sport, pushed back on her heels so often she nearly went through the back wall.

A harrowing and unflattering scoreboard. Still, I reckon she has it. See the intermittent flat backhand winners? That was it. Feel her feistiness? That was it. See how annoyed she was to be wiped away in just 53 minutes? This was all too much for someone so young but I suspect the existence of it. She won $132,000 for her appearance in the main draw, equating to $2500 a minute. Great coin if a teenager can get it.

Emerson Jones in action on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

What could Rybakina say? Don’t sweat it. It’s just the beginning. Probably something gracious about Jones being very young and having a great future and many more years on the tour. Perhaps advising her to listen to her coaching team, be patient and work hard. “She’s very young and I think she has a great future and many more years on the tour,” Rybakina said. “My advice would be listen to your team, be patient and work hard.”

Jones was happy as a clam. Aghast immediately after her whirlwind elimination, she walked off into the Melbourne sunset thankful for the hiding. More precisely, the opportunity. Now she knows good are the greats.

“It was a great experience for me,” she said. “I haven’t played on that court before, and I haven’t played that high of a ranked player before, so it was pretty exciting. I went out there not expecting the level. I didn’t really know what to expect, so I was a bit, like, wary on what will happen. Yhe whole match I was a bit nervous because I didn’t really know what to expect. Now I think it’s great that I’ve had that experience and hopefully I’ll do better next time.”

Let’s not hide the fact she was schooled. Her biggest lesson? “The biggest lesson was to probably work on my serve. Get that better,” she said. “Now I know the level, probably the highest level anyone can get. I think now I know, it’s exciting that we get to go back and work on all the things I need to improve. I didn’t play my best tennis today, it was hard too because of her tennis, too, but I just think I need to take out of it that it’s exciting to see the top level.”

Jones is top seed for the girls singles at Melbourne Park. She doesn’t hit with many of the top women because few of them has the foggiest idea who she is. She grinned: “I mean, it’s hard. No women yet wants to hit with me because I’m new. No one wants to hit with me just yet but obviously I’m going to try to find really good hits. I know a couple of the really good juniors that are here, as well, so I can also start hitting with them.”

Her coach, Carlos Cuadrado interjected: “That’s probably my fault. I’m probably organising it too late, and then everybody already has somebody to hit with.”

Jones: “They don’t really want to hit with me, but anyway …”