After breaking into the world’s top 100, Kimberly Birrell is determined to keep climbing the WTA Tour singles rankings.
Brisbane, Australia, 28 September 2023 | Leigh Rogers
Kimberly Birrell achieved a long-held goal this month, breaking into the world’s top 100 in singles.
Yet the 25-year-old from the Gold Coast described the major career milestone as “a little bit anticlimactic”.
“When I thought about cracking the top 100 in the past, I thought it was going to be some big moment where I won a really close match and ended up going really far into the top 100,” Birrell told tennis.com.au.
“In reality, I was just on holiday with my family.
“(But) I actually think it was kind of perfect that I got to spend it with them. They’ve made so many sacrifices for me over the years.”
Birrell had joined her family on a New Zealand getaway to unwind after spending six months competing abroad.
Highlights of that trip, which was the longest of Birrell’s career, included making main-draw debuts at Roland Garros and the US Open, as well as winning an ITF title in Portugal.
Kimberly Birrell competing at the 2023 US Open. Picture: Getty Images
After advancing to the semifinals at an ITF 100 tournament in Tokyo, Birrell flew to Queenstown to join her family on holidays. This included a brief stopover in Brisbane.
“Landing in Brisbane was just the weirdest feeling, I wanted to go home so badly,” she said.
Birrell learned of her impending top-100 debut through friends while in New Zealand, but did not immediately share the news with her family.
Her mother, Ros, discovered the news by checking the live rankings late on a Sunday night, hours before the official WTA Tour rankings were released.
“(My mum) actually called me from the next room at 11.30pm, which was super unusual. I thought something was wrong. I called her back and was like ‘are you okay?’,” Birrell related.
“She was like ‘you’re going to be in the top 100!’
“When I said I had found out that morning, she was actually kind of annoyed at me that I didn’t say anything. But I guess I didn’t fully grasp what an achievement it was.”
Birrell opted not to return home after Wimbledon, instead staying on the road hoping to earn enough ranking points to crack the world’s top 100 and receive direct entry into the US Open.
“When it came time to decide to come home after Wimbledon or not, that goal was really at the top of my mind,” she…
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