James Duckworth on the hunt for a top-100 ranking starting in northern Adelaide this week
James Duckworth will play three more tennis tournaments this year, including the ATP City of Playford tennis international this week, as he chases a ranking milestone.
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Injury permitting, James Duckworth will play three more tennis tournaments this year. Japan and India come next month but this week the world’s 130th ranked player is in northern Adelaide.
Winning the ATP City of Playford tennis international will give him 80 points, just short of his year end target.
“The goal is the top 100. I need 120 points, that’s a win and a semi final in three tournaments,” Duckworth said.
Playing such Challenger events is tough he says, an impressively player list covers the top seeded Yasutaka Uchiyama (world 87) down to youngsters looking to kick start their careers.
Eighteen-year-old Tristan Schoolkate, an Aussie ranked 1067, is such a foe and faces Duckworth tomorrow.
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“Challengers don’t have the highs and lows of grand slams where you get the bigger crowds
But it is not a negative, you still get looked after well. But you know you have to get through to get your ranking up,” he said.
Hitting the top 100 is a must, the $75,000 fee for playing the main draw at the Australian Open can be a life saver for players not accustomed to top end paydays.
“$75,000 is a big thing, tennis is one of the most expensive sports to play. Rugby or soccer play your expenses, here you have to pay everything yourself
Lizette Cabrera, world ranked 154 and who is playing the slightly lower level women’s tournament in Playford, agrees.
“I always wanted to do well at a grand slam, it’s lots of points and money to fund me through the year,” she said.
Tellingly, he tournament status this week means that while Tennis Australia puts the men up in a hotel, the women are self funded.
This week is easy, Cabrera‘s agent Garry Winter’s mother lives in Glenelg so accommodation is fixed but it’s not always so.
Rankings climbs aside, Duckworth who hit world number 82 four years ago before being derailed by injuries – he has two metal pins in his right foot – is eyeing turning out for his country still.
The squad for next month’s revamped Davis Cup finals in Madrid has been settled but January offers another way in via the newly formed 24 country ATP Cup in Australia.
“I have always wanted to play for Australia. I have been fifth alternate player for the Davis Cup. I grew up watching Lleyton beating Roger Federer in the 2003 Davis Cup semi-final, it was pretty cool to watch, you want to be part of it.”
The unexpected return of Australia’s enfant terrible, Nick Kyrgios, to the Davis Cup fold in Madrid has not caused waves among Australia’s players Duckworth says.
“I don’t know any players who have had a problem with him, I haven’t” he said.
That DC captain Lleyton Hewitt wants a Davis Cup victory in which he has long disagreed with the revamped format, is a given says Duckworth
“At the end of last year we had a Davis Cup camp in Melbourne for 10 or 12 of us, Lleyton wants to win whatever the format.”
The same spirit of harmony is at play with Australia’s women ahead of next month’s Federation Cup final against France in Perth says Cabrera with the Croatian born, and newly eligible, Ajla Tomljanovic drafted in for her debut.
“She’s a fantastic player, I’m really excited for her, it will give us the best chance possible.”
It is an achievement the 21-year-old Cabrera is desperate to replicate.
“If I were to get the call up I would drop everything and go. But I just focus on where I am now. I am playing really good tennis, I am in a good place.”
Setting goals is fundamental for the player who hits regularly with world number one Ash Barty – “she hasn’t changed at all” – whenever they are in Brisbane where they both live.
”I sit down every few weeks with my coach to evaluate where we are. It’s a good kind of benchmark. I’ve not really gone through 2020 goals yet, but top 80 hopefully.
Originally published as James Duckworth on the hunt for a top-100 ranking starting in northern Adelaide this week
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