Aleks Vukic, after a career-best Australian Open run, narrowly missed out on a historic victory against Jack Draper, ending his tournament journey. Despite the loss, Vukic expressed optimism for a potential Davis Cup call-up, as Australia grapples with numerous injuries within its squad.
Aleks Vukic is holding out hope of a Davis Cup call-up for Australia’s injury-ravaged squad after a heartbreaking end to his career-best Australian Open. The Sydneysider repeatedly fought back from the brink of defeat on Friday night before losing 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8) to British 15th seed Jack Draper in almost four hours on Margaret Court Arena.
Vukic, 29, had never advanced beyond the second round in 10 previous grand slams, so he broke new career ground at Melbourne Park this week. “It’s very bittersweet, but I have nothing to be ashamed of. I played a really good match from my end and left it all out there,” Vukic said. Draper narrowly avoided joining Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev as top-20 victims on that court. It was both players’ third consecutive five-setter, with Draper outlasting a wounded Thanasi Kokkinakis two nights earlier. World No.8 Alex de Minaur, who faces Argentinian 31st seed Franciso Cerundolo on Saturday afternoon, is the only Australian left in either singles draw. Vukic, who hit 22 aces and 81 winners overall against Draper, said playing three matches in front of Australian fans at his home grand slam was “such an honour”.“It’s just sad that I can’t play it again until next year,” he said. “But it’s something that I’m so happy that I also experienced, and hopefully keep experiencing.” Vukic looked dead and buried when he was double break point down while already trailing 3-1 in the final set, but he surged back into contention to continue a match of wild momentum swings.He was a break up in the opening set, which he lost, then raced to a 5-0 lead in the second as Draper briefly went off the boil. The third set was an engrossing affair that edged in Vukic’s favour when Draper double-faulted at five-all to hand over the break. However, the Australian had to rally from 15-40 in the next game to clinch a two-sets-to-one edge. Neither player could capitalise on a combined nine break points in the fourth set – two of them set points for Draper – but the Brit played consecutive great points to level the match in a tiebreaker.With Vukic serving with a 6-5 advantage, Draper chased down a volley and whipped a forehand winner, but was incredibly close to touching the net. The decisive moment came when Vukic dumped a backhand slice into the net after chasing down another Draper drop shot to award his rival two match points. One more powerful Draper serve down the T sealed him a round-of-16 clash with four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz. Australia’s Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt was in the crowd to watch Vukic, and has some headaches ahead of the tie in Stockholm against Sweden that starts at the end of this month. Squad members Nick Kyrgios (abdominal strain), Thanasi Kokkinakis (pectoral muscle) and Jordan Thompson (foot) are all under an injury cloud, while Alexei Popyrin (glute and abdominal) also exited the tournament with niggles. This looms as Vukic’s best chance to break into the team, but the world No.68 said there had not been any communication with him at this stage. “Representing Australia would be such a privilege,” he said. “I get to experience it week in, week out, and obviously it would be in a different format if it does happen. “Obviously, a few guys are injured, and Lleyton was there, and it was very nice to have his support my full focus was on the match.”
ALEX VUKIC DAVIS CUP AUSTRALIAN OPEN JACK DRAPER INJURIES AUSTRALIA TENNIS
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