Wimbledon’s green and gold invasion: The task ahead for the 14 Australians

Ostapenko, the No.13 seed, won their three other matches, including another three-setter at this year’s Australian Open. Tomljanovic insists there is no longer bad blood between them.

“We’re cool, I would say,” Tomljanovic said.

“We had a hit in Birmingham for 30 minutes and, look, for me, what happened was in the past. Looking back at it after all these years, like, did I overreact? Maybe. In the moment, I felt what I felt, and I don’t, in a way, regret it, but I do think that sometimes in the heat of the battle, it’s also good to show emotion.

“We’re able to say hello [to each other now], and I do respect her at the same time – I think, maybe, it is mutual.”

Hurkacz, like de Minaur, is one of the best servers and grasscourters on the planet – and pushed world No.1 Jannik Sinner to two tiebreak sets in last week’s Halle final.

The winner of that projected clash would likely meet seven-time champion Djokovic in the last eight, although de Minaur must first negotiate an all-Australian opener against lucky loser James Duckworth.

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Duckworth scored a late reprieve after losing in final-round qualifying, when de Minaur’s original opponent, France’s Corentin Moutet, withdrew with a bone edema to give Australia 14 players across the men’s and women’s draws.

The 11 Australian men in the main draw equals the country’s effort from 2015, when both Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic were seeded, Lleyton Hewitt was a wildcard recipient, and three players qualified.

“It’s really cool. Aussie tennis, men’s and women’s, is in such a good spot,” said Rinky Hijikata, one of three Australians – along with Adam Walton and qualifier Olivia Gadecki – making their Wimbledon debut.

“From my experience on the guys’ side, the camaraderie and the culture between everyone is unbelievable.

“I’m one of the youngest, and I feel like everyone’s kind of taken me under their wing, and I’ve said it before, but they’ve all been so helpful [with] the transition of playing on the main tour. I don’t think I would have been able to transition and be as comfortable without everyone’s guidance.”

Berrettini ruined de Minaur’s hopes of a deep run last year and this time could be a thorn in the side of fellow Italian Sinner in the second round.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz also landed on Sinner’s side of the draw, and they could face off in a blockbuster semi-final for the second straight major.

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There is reason to believe de Minaur’s countrymen could also cause a stir, with Queen’s Club semi-finalist Jordan Thompson one to watch.

Thompson starts with Russia’s Pavel Kotov before facing No.18 seed Sebastian Baez or Brandon Nakashima, then likely 16th seed Ugo Humbert in the round of 32.

Max Purcell (Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen), Hijikata (Italy’s Flavio Cobolli), Alexei Popyrin (Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro), Aleks Vukic (Austrian Sebastian Ofner) and Walton (Argentine Federico Coria) also avoided seeded opponents first-up.

Purcell edged out in-form Brit Billy Harris in a tight three-setter in the Eastbourne semi-finals on Friday after he started the week in qualifying. He will play Fritz in the final after the American ousted Vukic in two tiebreaks.

The remaining two Australians in the women’s draw also dodged a seed in the first round, with Gadecki facing fellow qualifier Robin Montgomery and veteran Daria Saville set to play Peyton Stearns.

“There’s something very magical about walking through those doors [at Wimbledon],” Gadecki said.

“It’s such a prestigious event and to be able to play in the main draw is amazing.”

Bolt from the blue: This Aussie qualifier doesn’t fear his top-10 rival

Bolt won back-to-back grasscourt titles in Mildura and Swan Hill in front of a hearty but small group of spectators back in March.

The competition was just as modest, but it was a glimmer of hope the hard-serving left-hander might have another climb left in a rollercoaster tennis career savaged by injuries and struggles with homesickness.

Barely three months later, Bolt will play on the hallowed courts of Wimbledon again – against world No.8 Ruud – having rallied from a two-set deficit in final-round qualifying at nearby Roehampton to win his third match in four days.

Not even that explains how unlikely this sequence of events was for the world No.234, who had only 10 minutes to prepare for his first qualifying match after finding out he was in as an alternate.

Bolt was instead planning to scrounge one last meal from his accreditation allocation until his late call-up.

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“I just had a free swing because I wasn’t even meant to be in the draw,” Bolt said.

“I took that kind of approach and I feel like it allowed me to play free the whole week, and now here we are, qualified for another Wimbledon.”

Bolt also qualified for the grasscourt major in 2018 and reached the second round as a wildcard three years later, while he made it through qualifying at the 2017 Australian Open with a ranking of 632 (he had some luck on that occasion as well).

That followed him briefly retiring from tennis the previous year to work 10-hour days building fences then kicking goals on Saturdays for Mipolonga in South Australia’s River Murray Football League.

It’s been that kind of career, one that peaked at No.125 in the world.

Bolt’s mother, Cathy, and brother, Nathan, will arrive in London in time to watch him fire down aces against claycourt specialist Ruud, who has won only two of his six career matches at Wimbledon.

Bolt can also afford now to fly over his Melbourne-based coach, Rohan Williams.

Neither Cathy nor Nathan has ever left Australia before, but they know this could be Bolt’s last chance to do something special on tennis’ biggest stage.

Bolt’s family witnessed the anguish he experienced in losing passion for the game and spending extended periods out with injury. Most notably, there were two bouts of major elbow surgery before a debilitating case of osteitis pubis late last year.

The mental toll was just as prevalent as the physical one.

“I’ve definitely had my doubts the last couple of years,” he said.

“I’ve had some pretty big injuries that have derailed the progress of my career, and there were some moments when I didn’t think I’d be able to get back to playing the tennis I knew I could play. But this [performance] is giving me back the belief that I know I belong, and I can play at this level.”

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Bolt honed his grasscourt game as a kid on the local Murray Bridge courts and still considers the green stuff his favourite surface.

The South Australian will attempt to rush Ruud constantly when they clash in the first round, and is not fearful of facing an opponent whose near $US20 million prizemoney dwarfs Bolt’s $US1.6 million.

“I back myself against anyone on grass,” Bolt said.

“If I go out there and do what I want to do well, and I execute what I want to do, then I’m going to be tough for anyone to beat. I’m just going to go out there and give it my all.”

There is another, more lighthearted angle on Bolt’s feelgood Wimbledon story.

Australian No.1 de Minaur’s relationship with British star Katie Boulter has seen them extravagantly dubbed the sport’s answer to “Posh and Becks”, but they are not the only Alex and Katie love match on tour.

Bolt dates another Brit, Katie Swan, who boasts a best singles ranking of No.118 but will not compete at Wimbledon this fortnight.

“It’s probably been a bit over a year that me and Katie have been together, so it’s not just one Alex and Katie in the tennis world now,” Bolt said, laughing.

“There’s something about the Aussies and Brits. We met at the French Open last year. It was kind of crazy – we’d never really crossed paths before.

“It gets a bit tricky [with our schedules], but we’ve been lucky enough that she was over in Australia at the start of the year, through all the Aussie swing, so we had a fair bit of time there.”

Marc McGowan is at Wimbledon with the support of Tennis Australia.

Watch Wimbledon 2024 from July 1 live and exclusively free on Nine and 9Now with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand with centre court in 4K on Stan Sport.

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