For the fourth major tournament in a row, there is an all-Australian battle in the opening round of the men’s singles competition.
London, Great Britain, 30 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Australian men meeting in the opening round at a Grand Slam tournament has become a common trend of late.
It looked like this would change at Wimbledon 2024, until James Duckworth was elevated into the main draw as a lucky loser. He replaced injured Frenchman Corentin Moutet, setting up an opening-round showdown with compatriot Alex de Minaur.
This makes Wimbledon 2024 the fourth consecutive major tournament to feature an all-Australian meeting in the opening round of the men’s singles competition.
Such a draw anomaly last occurred between Wimbledon 1984 and Roland Garros 1985.
Highlighting the extraordinary depth in Australian men’s tennis right now, these all-Aussie battles at the past four Grand Slams have featured nine different players.
| Grand Slam men’s singles All-Australian first-round meetings |
|
| 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 least there will be another Aussie in the second round,” Duckworth shrugged when asked if there was a silver lining to his upcoming all-Aussie battle.
The 32-year-old Duckworth described the opportunity to face ninth-seeded De Minaur as “a great test”.
“I’m going to have to play well, that’s the reality,” Duckworth said. “If I don’t play well, I’ll be in a far bit of trouble. He’s top 10 in the world and he’s there for a reason. It’s going to be tough, but I’ll go out there and give it a good crack.”
Duckworth’s earliest memory of De Minaur was training together at Sydney Olympic Park in February 2015.
“I was about 105, 110 in the world and I was in Sydney for 10 days,” he related. “I remember hitting with him the first time there and he said ‘I’d love to practise with you as much as you want, as long as you’re here, let me know when you want to hit and I’ll hit with you’.
“I was like ‘wow, this guy really wants it’. He was like 15 years old and every session he turned up and tried his arse off. He was pretty skinny and light on at that stage, his ball wasn’t big, but he was very mature for his age. I was beating him in most…
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