In the thick of a match, tennis is possibly one of the most solitary experiences for a professional player; but not if you’re Australian.
The camaraderie amongst Aussie tennis players is both refreshing, and ever so strong. They often practise together, hang out together, and on Monday, they made sure they all advanced to the second round of Qualifying at Wimbledon together, with eight out of eight Australian men claiming opening victories at Roehampton.
The last of those eight was 26-year-old lefty, Alex Bolt, who wrapped up play on day one of Qualifying by surviving the might of 17-year-old Italian phenom Jannik Sinner 2-6, 7-5, 12-10 in a two hours 36 minutes thriller.
Watched on by fellow Aussies Thanasi Kokkinakis, Matt Reid and Akira Santillan, Bolt surprised even himself by turning things around against Sinner.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Bolt jokingly told reporters after pulling off the win.
The roar he gave when he secured the match point said it all.
“I would say relief,” he says of how he felt during that moment. “Really, got out of jail free card there, I really don’t know how I won that.
“I really don’t know how I got through that. He played some quality tennis and I somehow just weathered the storm and I still really don’t know how I won that match.”
Bolt stepped on court knowing he was the last one left to complete an Aussie sweep on opening day. He believes the support he and his countrymen provide each other is a true blessing in such a competitive sport like tennis.
“Motivation definitely. It’s always great to see, we had eight guys in quallies, and eight guys have managed to win first round, that’s unbelievable effort from all the Aussies,” he said.
“We all train together, we’re all close mates, we all grew up together, we’re all about the same age, we’re really close. We’re even at each other’s practices watching. Just that extra support can just do that little bit extra on court, every bit helps.”
All day around the grounds, Aussie players – some of which aren’t even contesting Qualifying or Main Draw matches at Wimbledon this year – were spotted supporting their compatriots.
Earlier in the day, Nick Kyrgios was around when Marc Polmans and Santillan won their respective clashes over Mohamed Safwat and Jurij Rodionov.
Jason Kubler was the seventh Aussie to claim a win on Monday, and he admits that halfway through his tough 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 victory over second seed Henri Laaksonen, he felt he was going to be the first one of the day from the crew to suffer defeat.
Kubler was two points away from a loss, down 0-30 and serving at 4-5 but he won the next 12 points to complete an inspired win. Kokkinakis interrupted Kubler’s interview later to congratulate him and joked that he started watching at the very moment his countryman switched gears and won that streak of points that locked down the victory, implying it was he who brought Kubler good luck.
“I think that’s probably the one thing we do very well as a country,” Kubler says of the Aussie camaraderie.
“There are a lot of guys who are at this tournament, and even some who aren’t in this tournament that are here.
“Thanasi is here, Grillsy (Jacob Grills) is here, we’re all there for one another. I was watching Ducks (James Duckworth) get through his second set and I’m going to go watch Bolty (Alex Bolt) after I do all my stuff.
“Even though it’s an individual sport it feels like we’re all together, we’re all pushing to sort of all of us to go at one time, you know what I mean? So if one of us does well, then everyone is going to get a message or a voice note saying ‘well done, congratulations’. We’re a very close-knit country.”
The youngest of the bunch to make it through to round two is 19-year-old Alexei Popyrin, who is playing his first grass court tournaments as a professional this season. The talented teen eased past Argentina’s Federico Coria 6-2, 7-5 in 64 minutes but concedes that he still has some adjustments to make on the surface.
“Gotta get the hang of moving a little bit on it, slipped a couple of times here and there. But I like the grass, I think it suits my game pretty well and definitely we've got a few things to work on with the team, but we'll get there,” said Popyrin, who has 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash in his corner this grass court campaign.
