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Australian women’s No.1 Ajla Tomljanovic has been forced out of the Australian Open with a lingering knee injury.
Tomljanovic previously pulled out of the United Cup due to the injury and confirmed on Saturday she had been unable to recover in time to contest her home grand slam which starts on Monday.
The 29-year-old’s withdrawal is a hammer blow to Australia’s hopes of a local woman going deep into the tournament.
A year after now-retired Ash Barty claimed a breakthrough Australian Open title triumph, Australia has only five women, none inside the top 100, left in the draw.
Tomljanovic posted the words “I’m sorry” on Twitter with a longer statement confirming her withdrawal attached to the post.
“It absolutely pains me to have to write this message but unfortunately I won’t be able to compete at this year’s Australian Open,” she said in the statement.
“I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to get healthy but just ran out of time to heal and be 100 per cent ready to compete at a high level.
“It’s been a very tough decision to make but I have to listen to my body.
“It’s no secret that this is my favorite place to play so it hurts to miss out on a great opportunity to play in front of my home crowd and to be surrounded by the incredible love and atmosphere.”
In 2022 Tomljanovic became the first Australian woman since former world No.1 Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1979 to reach the quarter-finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open, where she famously ended Serena Williams’ career, in a calendar year.
She was in line for a precious first-time grand slam seeding at her home major until the injury ruined her leading and resulted in her ranking dropping to No.35.
Her unseeded status had delivered her a difficult draw.
The Australian was due to play Argentina’s world No.192 Nadia Podoroska first-up but then faced either Sofia Kenin or Victoria Azarenka in the second round.
With Barty retired, and regular campaigner Daria Saville ruled out in September after suffering a serious knee injury, Tomljanovic had been comfortably Australia’s best hope.
The remaining Australians are Jaimee Fourlis, Olivia Gadecki, Storm Hunter and Talia Gibson and late addition Kimberly Birrell, who earned a spot following the withdrawal of Venus Williams, who had a wildcard.
Gadecki, who is being mentored on-site by Barty, and West Australian teen Gibson are making their Open debuts.
It was an uncomfortable pre-Australian Open press conference for Aussie tennis star Alex de Minaur, who was seemingly blocked from speaking about fellow countryman Nick Kyrgios by media advisors.
After surprising a group of kids at a local tennis clinic, de Minaur found himself unable to answer questions about Kyrgios after contact intersection from the advisors, adding fuel to the rumours about a rift within the team.
When asked by 9 News Melbourne reporter Braden Ingram what his relationship with Kyrgios was like at the moment, de Minaur didn’t get the chance to respond, with an advisor jumping in with: “Hey guys let’s stop the Nick questions. If we don’t have anything else about the tournament, we might wrap up.
“Guys let’s avoid Nick questions if you could just stay focused on the tournament.”
But as all good reporters do, Natalie Yoannidis from 7 News Melbourne managed to get a response from de Minaur.
“It is about the tournament. Have you spoken to Nick in the lead-up to the tournament? Obviously you guys are teammates,” asked Yoannidis .
“No we haven’t spoken,” replied an anxious de Minaur.
The world No. 24 was free to speak about his own game, including trying to crack into the top ten.
“That (top 10) is ultimately the goal. I’m not satisfied where I am right now,” said de Minaur.
Regarding the possibility of a fourth-round clash with Novak Djokovic, de Minaur replied “Those are the types of matches I want to be playing. I’ll do my best to get to that position and hopefully give myself a good chance to play against the best players in the world.
“After getting a couple of those breakthrough wins, it’s very much possible and doable and I know that I can take it to these top guys.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis has watched nine break points sail him by in the decisive set to end the local hope’s Adelaide International 2 title defence.
The Australia threw his biggest punches at Memorial Drive but the craft and nerve of veteran Roberto Bautista Agut proved too much in a 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-3 semi-final loss on Friday night.
Kokkinakis looked to have finally cracked the 34-year-old’s defence early in the third set, having earlier blazed a flurry of forehands past the world No.26 to level the match.
The Spaniard’s armour held firm though, Bautista Agut saving three break points in his first service game and five more in his third.
He broke a distracted Kokkinakis for the first and only time in the match in between, the Australian briefly rattled after an incredible drop shot while back pedalling saved one of those eight chances to break.
Bautista Agut saved another break point while serving out the match, Kokkinikas successful from just one of 12 of those crucial moments in total.
“He’s a very good player, serving unreal and very good on this court,” Bautista Agut said of Kokkinakis as his son ran on court to congratulate him.
“He’s a great potential and it’s very tough to beat Thanasi on this court today.”
A maiden winner at last year’s Adelaide event, Kokkinakis will at least have an extra day’s rest before a tricky first-round Australian Open clash with Italian danger Fabio Fognini.
He’ll carry formidable form in too, the world No.110 beating No.6 Andrey Rublev and the 28th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic on his way to the final four.
Any wins at the Australian Open will provide a rankings boost for Kokkinakis, who fell meekly in the first round last year after an emotional run to his home title.
Bautista Agut will play his 22nd ATP final against surprise packet Soonwoo Kwon in Saturday’s Adelaide final after the South Korean blasted young British star Jack Draper off the court earlier in the day.
Into the main draw as a replacement after losing in qualifying, the South Korean world No.84 withstood the sapping Adelaide heat to prevail 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 in two hours 45 minutes.
Comfortably beaten by world No.40 Draper in Adelaide last week, Kwon went on the offensive to turn the tables.
He crushed a brilliant cross-court forehand winner to claim a tense first-set tie break and then, after dropping the second set, kept firing in the third.
His second break of serve secured the match, Kwon hitting 48 winners in total as he sets his sights on a second ATP title.
Draper will turn his attention to Monday’s first-round clash with Australian Open top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal.
They’ll be giving it their best, there’ll be no tanking and they’ll have a laugh – but just don’t expect Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios to deliver a reprise of their dazzling Australian Open doubles triumph.
That was the message, delivered with a big chuckle, by Kokkinakis as he looked forward to another Melbourne Park adventure which he hopes will feature a singles bid that doesn’t end early like last year amid a “crazy zoo” atmosphere.
When asked for his thoughts on a possible successful defence of his doubles crown with Kyrgios, Kokkinakis laughed: “No, I don’t think we will, to be honest.
“We’ll play, but if I told you I think we’re going to defend the title, I’d be lying.
The pair will be out for more fun, though, with the ‘Special Ks’ double act that wowed the Melbourne crowds last year still set to be a highlight.
“That’s why we play. We only thought about winning it last year, to be honest, pretty much in the quarters onwards when we were both out of singles,” said Kokkinakis.
“We’re going to try and do as well as we can in singles; doubles is a bonus. Hopefully, our bodies hold up.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
“We’re not going to tank. If we get out there, we’re going to play and try and do as well as we can, but, yeah, I’m not chalking in a back-to-back just yet!”
Singles, Kokkinakis reckoned, was now his absolute priority, even if he wouldn’t be heading for Melbourne with the same sort of buzz as last year after he’d won his maiden ATP title in his hometown.
Still, he may be better placed this time as his earlier exit and a Tuesday start in Melbourne – “Thank f*** I’m not on Monday!” he laughed – will give him more time to prepare properly for the slower courts and an attractive-looking duel with the cavalier Italian veteran Fabio Fognini.
“Yeah, it’s going to be fun, going to be a crazy atmosphere. Last year on the intimate court three (losing in straight sets to Yannick Hanfmann) it was something I can’t even describe; that was the biggest zoo I’ve ever felt.
“Hopefully it’s a little more toned down. I don’t know if it will be. I’ll try and play on a different court, maybe a little bit bigger one where it feels like I don’t have a fan up my ass pretty much for the whole match.”
The Australian Open preparations of Paula Badosa and Veronika Kudermetova have hit a snag after the pair withdrew from their respective semi-finals at the Adelaide International 2.
Spain’s world No.11 Badosa pulled out of Friday’s match against fifth seed Daria Kasatkina with a thigh injury.
World No.9 Kudermetova then followed suit, opting not to play against Belinda Bencic because of a left hip injury.
It means Kasatkina and Bencic will go head-to-head in Saturday’s final.
Badosa said she remained hopeful of playing at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday.
“I’m really disappointed that I had to withdraw because I was really looking forward to the match,” she said.
“I think I was playing very good tennis, high level. I played three really good matches. I think that helps me, as well, on my confidence for the tournaments ahead.
“Now it’s something that I cannot control, so it is what it is.”
Badosa battled through a gruelling quarter-final on Thursday against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, which featured 74 and 81-minute sets.
“It was a very tough match, especially physical, so I felt a little bit in my abductor,” she said.
“I felt like I pulled it a little bit. (On Friday) I feel a little bit worse, so yeah, I have the Australian Open ahead, and I hope I can recover for that.”
Kudermetova was coming off a three-set victory over Danielle Collins that lasted two hours 48 minutes.
© AAP
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