Christopher O'Connell - From cleaning boats to overcoming Nadal, Medvedev
With 82 main draw victories at pro events in 2019, the 25-year-old Christopher O'Connell has been one of the players of the season, leaving Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal and others on below 60. To tell the truth, the Sydney native played only two matches on the ATP Tour and spent the year on the lower-tier events, although he doesn't care too much about that after cracking the top-120 following an incredible run. Christopher had to wait until the end of 2014 to enter the top-500 for the first time, unable to find the form in his early years on the Tour and starting to deliver better results in 2016 when he claimed five Futures titles from six finals, securing a place in the top-250 at the end of the year. Struggling with pneumonia in 2017, O'Connell couldn't stay at the same pace, losing positions on the ranking list and facing even bigger troubles in the season behind us when knee tendonitis kept him away from the court for six months.
Returning in August, Christopher couldn't do much on the Futures circuit and had to embrace coaching job and also washed boats on Sydney's Pittwater Harbour to survive one month after another, hoping for a better run in 2019 and to get back to the court injury-free. With improved health and desire to show his best tennis, O'Connell grabbed 82 victories from 96 main draw encounters, advancing into 14 finals and standing on the verge of the top-120 after being unranked only 11 months ago! Never reaching a Challenger final before this season, Christopher lifted the trophy in Cordenons in August, losing the final in Sibiu before conquering another crown in Fairfield and finishing runner-up in Knoxville, his fourth final in just three months!
The Sydney native had 106 Futures victories overall before 2019 and that tally is now more fruitful for 50 more triumphs, carrying O'Connell into ten finals and towards three titles, missing a chance to win more trophies and get even closer to the place in the top-100. Christopher is the top-ranked Aussie outside the top-100 and should earn the main draw wild card for the upcoming Australian Open, the ultimate award for all of his efforts in the last couple of years and that enormous number of victories in 2019.
"It's the year I needed to have," O'Connell said. "I've finally had a full year of health. The last couple of seasons have been pretty tough - in 2017, I suffered a bit of pneumonia and that set me back. Last year, I was dealing with a knee tendonitis issue that kept me out for about six months from January through to June. It has been awesome finally being injury-free and being able to look after my body the best I ever have. As soon as I turned 25 in June, it kind of scared me how quickly time's passed and how I hadn't done too much with my tennis up until that point. It's super tough but it's part of the sport, a lot of the Australian players that I can think of have dealt with injury setbacks. I haven't officially heard anything yet and I won't officially hear anything til closer to the Australian Open. Still, I'm the first Aussie outside the top-100 and I think I'm first in line for a wildcard. They've got five wildcards to give and I'm nearly 100% certain I've got one."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34616PJ
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