Australia’s largest battalion of fellows’s avid gamers at Roland Garros for 1 / 4 of a century will mass into the primary draw of later past’s French Seen — and no less than certainly one of them goes to dollar a dispiriting pattern.
That’s the encouraging forecast of Rinky Hijikata, probably the most nine-strong contingent within the lead 100 all in quest of to develop into the primary Australian guy to succeed in the second one past of the clay-court slam singles in 17 years.
Getting trampled into the purple Paris grime sooner than the primary past’s out has develop into just a little of a grisly fresh ritual, a ways got rid of from the ones Nineteen Sixties glory days when Rod Laver and co lifted the name seven instances in 8 years.
However 23-year-old Hijikata, nonetheless just a little of a wide-eyed novice at the ATP circuit, has been inspired by means of the rising energy of his solid band of Aussie friends on excursion to imagine certainly one of them can develop into the primary since Lleyton Hewitt, who were given to the last-16 in 2007, to revel in a in a similar way deep run.
Establishing with the primary guy, Alex de Minaur.
“Demon’s going to be a threat on any surface he plays, a top-10 calibre player who’s had an incredible year,” Hijikata stated, explaining how impressed he was once by means of operating with international quantity 11 de Minaur in follow.
“He’s just beaten Rafa [Nadal] on clay and had some big results, so I don’t see any reason why he can’t go on a deep run in Paris.
“It’s an inspiration, simply to have any person round who’s as humble and devoted as he’s, and as beneficiant together with his age for the alternative Australian avid gamers.
“But it’s not just Alex. There are also a lot of guys that fly under the radar a little bit. Big Pop [Alexei Popyrin], clay’s maybe his favourite surface, he was boys champion here and he’s got the weapons to do a lot of damage on the surface.
“Chris O’Connell has performed a accumulation, performed smartly at the grime additionally, and Tommo [Jordan Thompson] can play games just right tennis at the clay.
“There are definitely guys who can make a push next week, even if it’s not their preferred surface.”
And he contains himself, after all, at the same time as an absolute novice on clay, feeling he can develop on his remarkable 2023 marketing campaign, which culminated in a tremendous wildcard run to the United States Seen fourth spherical.
“What I’ve already learned is that anything can happen on clay. My career up to this point has been full of surprises, so you never know.
“The most productive-of-five structure is helping me, I believe like I’ve performed a few of my best possible tennis in magnificent slams.
“It’s kind of been my first year of playing mainly tour events, it’s been really cool, a great experience. It’s been a little bit of a learning curve but I’m motivated, pumped to put some big results on the board — and feel I’m not far off.”
As Hijikata is the youngest of the 9 to attribute within the lead 100, the alternative, extra skilled Aussies have taken him below their wing.
“They’ve been great to me. I’m just trying to learn off their experiences and keep pushing every day, and, hopefully, all the Aussie boys will keep pushing each other to get better.”
Only one word of honour of ultimatum, although. When Australia final had 9 males within the first spherical in 1999, together with 3rd seed Pat Rafter and tenth seed Mark Philippoussis, nonetheless no one made the second one past.
AAP
