WIMBLEDON: ‘Alex Bolt avoids doing the bus stop in five-set qualifying thriller

There’s few tournaments more cruelly tense than the Wimbledon qualifying tournament. Alex Bolt has survived, taking Australia’s male contingent to 10 at the All England Club next week.

Australian tennis player Alex Bolt.

Wimbledon qualifying carries a cruel tension. Because of the opportunity at your trembling fingertips. It’s like something out of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The normality of the Roehampton setting merely magnifies the glory of where you’re trying to get to. One more win and you receive a golden ticket.

“The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last,” Willy Wonka said of the luck of his draw.

Wannabe Wimbledon qualifiers just want the whole thing to be over. Victories spark delirium. Off to Wimby! Defeats are soul-destroying. I remember seeing a five-setter in which two journeymen players, whose names escape me, were so nervous they could barely put one foot in front of the other.

One bloke would have match point. He’d double fault or dunk a shot into the net. Then the other bloke would do the same. The most frustrated of the pair threw his racquet like a javelin over the fence.

It went so far that it landed among a group of ball kids warming up for their next appointment. He wandered over and said, “Sorry about that.”

Then he received a time violation. Then he lost. When I departed, I saw him standing at the bus stop. You either get the golden ticket … or you don’t.

South Australian Alex Bolt is a lefty with flair. At his best, he could be top 30 in the world. He’s 234th. He wasn’t even in the original qualifying draw, arriving at Roehampton as an alternate. Ten minutes before the opening round, the 31-year-old learned he was in.

Now he’s off to one of the biggest shows in sport thanks to a physically and emotionally draining 6-7 (2/7) 2-6 7-6 (9/7) 7-5 6-4 win over Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi.

“You couldn’t write a better script for the journey I’ve had this week,” Bolt told tennis.com.au after avoiding the bus stop in three hours and 41 minutes of hard slog.

“I don’t know if it’s sunk in yet. I’m just super-proud of my efforts to hang around in the match. I had opportunities in the first set and let that slip. I kind of let that take control of my mind for the next hour and a bit. He got the second set as well and started playing really good tennis. I just kept hanging around, hanging around and managed to turn the tide. It’s unreal.”

Bolt hasn’t played a major since the 2022 Australian Open. When he trailed World No. 138 Riedi 5-2 in the third-set tie-breaker, bus stop here we come. He saved match point at 5-6 with a blazing forehand winner. Wimbledon here he comes. “Two-sets-to-love down, match point down, you’re not usually coming back after that,” Bolt said. “I think both of us were feeling pretty fatigued there in the fifth set. I just stayed stronger mentally and managed to scrap the break at the end.

“I’ll keep an eye on the draw tomorrow to see who I’m playing and go from there. I’m just super-happy to have qualified. I’ve got all the confidence in the world now. I have three really tough qualifying matches under my belt. I’ve had good time on court and I’m seeing the ball well. I shouldn’t even be in the tournament, so I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Ten Australian men are in the main draw at Wimbledon: Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson, Alexei Popyrin, Chris O’Connell, Rinky Hijikata, Aleksandar Vukic, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Max Purcell, Adam Walton and Bolt.

Gold Coast’s world No. 177 Olivia Gadecki beat France’s Elsa Jacquemot 7-5 4-6 6-3 in her final qualifying match, avoiding doing the bus stop, joining Ajla Tomljanovic and Daria Saville as Australia’s women’s singles participants from Monday. “I’m kind of speechless,” she said.