Christopher O'Connell ready to compete against top players at Australian Open
Australian tennis player Christopher O'Connell was enjoying a breakout season before he rolled his ankle at the Barcelona Challenger in October and finished his season on an unfortunate way.
O'Connell was up by a match point in his second round clash in Barcelona before he rolled his ankle and was forced to retire the match.
"I rolled my ankle on my match point, so that sucked,” O’Connell told Tennis Australia.
“I was stuck in Spain for a few days before I could get a flight back to Australia. Then I had to do two weeks quarantine in Sydney, which was a bit of a battle with the ankle. I was hobbling around in the hotel room.”
Sydney was in lockdown in December so Sydneysider O'Connell was having a hard time finding ways to train.
"We were in lockdown for a couple of weeks. It was pretty tough to train, as we had to stay in our suburb,” O’Connell said.
“I was lucky we have family friends just up the road who have a private hard court, so I was able to get on court there with my little brother.”
O'Connell ready for the Australian OpenO'Connell, ranked at No. 121 in the world, is set to make his third main draw Australian Open appearance after receiving a wildcard into the event.
O'Connell lost to Grigor Dimitrov in his opener at the Australian Open in 2017, before losing to Andrey Rublev in the first round last year.
"I know now I’m capable of winning rounds in Grand Slams, so I can’t wait to get out there and compete,” O’Connell said as he looks ahead to the Australian Open.
“I have had two tough opponents the last two times I’ve played (at the Australian Open), but I’m ready to play whoever I get drawn up against. I feel like I’m in good form at the moment, even though I haven’t played too much in the past few months. So I’m looking forward to it. To get out in front of the Australian crowd and to be playing against some of the top players in the world, it’s pretty exciting.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/39rCvLn
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