For the fourth main event in a row, there’s an all-Australian battle within the opening spherical of the lads’s singles competitors.
London, Nice Britain, 30 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Australian males assembly within the opening spherical at a Grand Slam event has grow to be a standard development of late.
It seemed like this may change at Wimbledon 2024, till James Duckworth was elevated into the principle draw as a fortunate loser. He changed injured Frenchman Corentin Moutet, organising an opening-round showdown with compatriot Alex de Minaur.
This makes Wimbledon 2024 the fourth consecutive main event to characteristic an all-Australian assembly within the first spherical of the lads’s singles competitors.
Such a draw anomaly final occurred between Wimbledon 1984 and Roland Garros 1985.
Highlighting the extraordinary depth in Australian males’s tennis proper now, these all-Aussie battles on the previous 4 Grand Slams have featured 9 totally different gamers.
| Grand Slam males’s singles All-Australian first-round conferences |
|
| US Open 2023 | Chris O’Connell d Max Purcell |
| Australian Open 2024 | Alexei Popyrin d Marc Polmans Jordan Thompson d Aleksandar Vukic |
| Roland Garros 2024 | Thanasi Kokkinakis d Alexei Popyrin |
| Wimbledon 2024 | Alex de Minaur v James Duckworth |
“At the least there will probably be one other Aussie within the second spherical,” Duckworth shrugged when requested if there was a silver lining to his upcoming all-Aussie battle.
The 32-year-old Duckworth described the chance to face ninth-seeded De Minaur as “an excellent check”.
“I’m going to should play properly, that’s the fact,” Duckworth stated. “If I don’t play properly, I’ll be in a good bit of hassle. He’s high 10 on the planet and he’s there for a motive. It’s going to be robust, however I’ll go on the market and provides it a superb crack.”
Duckworth’s earliest reminiscence of De Minaur is coaching collectively at Sydney Olympic Park in February 2015.
“I used to be about 105, 110 on the planet and I used to be in Sydney for 10 days,” he associated. “I bear in mind hitting with him for the primary time there and he stated ‘I’d like to practise with you as a lot as you need, so long as you’re right here, let me know once you need to hit and I’ll hit with you’.
“I used to be like ‘wow, this man actually needs it’. He was like 15 years outdated and each session he turned up and tried his arse off. He was fairly skinny and lightweight on at that stage, his ball wasn’t large, however he was very mature for his age. I used to be beating him in most factors, however there was no keep on from him … I used to be tremendous impressed with him.”
Duckworth has proudly watched on as De Minaur, who’s seven years his junior, has charged up the rankings to peak at world No.7 earlier this month.
“I like Demon. I simply love the best way he goes about it,” world No.78 Duckworth stated.
“He’s an excellent humble man, works extraordinarily laborious and is simply an excellent tennis participant. His recreation has developed rather a lot I feel during the last couple of years. He’s actually labored laborious and I’m tremendous pumped for him that he’s ranked the place he’s.
“I’d say at lot, or all of us, Aussies look as much as him and he’s an excellent position mannequin for us for positive.”
Regardless of the sturdy respect, Duckworth believes he can problem the Aussie No.1 after they face off in Wimbledon’s opening spherical on Tuesday. His confidence is excessive after tallying 10 wins on grass in current weeks, together with a victory in opposition to world No.14 Ben Shelton.
“I give myself an opportunity, for positive,” Duckworth stated.
“I’ve been taking part in fairly properly and grass might be my greatest floor. I feel I’m harmful on this floor and if I play properly, I’m an opportunity.”
> READ: Australian hopes handed brutal attracts at Wimbledon 2024
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