The refrain from every Australian tennis player in Paris for Roland Garros was as pleading as it was shared. Bring on the grass.
Even Alex de Minaur, who enjoyed a breakout run on the red dirt when reaching the French Open quarterfinals, could not wait to ditch his clay court shoes and slide into soles designed to maximise movement on the grass courts in the Netherlands and now England.
The Australian, who is ranked at a career high of No.7, seized the ninth title of his career when successful in the Netherlands on Sunday.
Now the standard bearer in Australian tennis, he was delighted when told at the Queen’s Club in London on Monday that compatriots Jordan Thompson and Rinky Hijikata had either progressed, or were about to, against top-tier rivals Holger Rune and Frances Tiafoe.
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Further north in Birmingham, dual-Wimbledon quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic was a dominant 6-2 6-1 winner over Anna Blinkova as she prepares to return to the All England Club after missing last year’s championships with a knee injury.
Demon firing on grass in title win! | 01:26
“Us Aussies, we are known for loving the grass. You’re going to get very few Aussies who don’t enjoy this part of the season and it’s great to see (we have) strength in numbers again,” de Minaur said.
“We’re just putting out a showing almost every week, just flooding tournaments. There’s so many of us just competing and being able to go on a run any given week, so it’s just great to see.
“I’m proud to be a part of it and … there’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing all these guys getting results.”
As defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz practised with soon-to-be-retired legend Andy Murray about 1pm in London on Monday, at either end of their court Hijikata and Thompson tested their nous on the surface against highly-credentialled rivals.
Hijikata enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, which included a run to the last 16 of the US Open, but has found his second full season a tougher proposition, though admittedly one that has provided plenty of opportunities to learn from.
The Sydneysider was not far away in matches in his first proper stint on clay but entered Queen’s with a streak of five straight first round defeats, including a tight loss to compatriot Alexei Popyrin in the Netherlands last week.
“I think it’s tough playing another Aussie on the grass because I feel like we all play well on it. So it was maybe a bit of a rough draw there and ‘Pop’ was playing some good tennis. But it was good to get some court time there and I feel like we all feel very comfortable on it,” Hijikata said.
The 23-year-old, who will make his debut at Wimbledon in a fortnight, has slipped to 98 in the world, so a triumph in any circumstances was important.
He had several chances on the Tiafoe serve in the first set, only to drop his own delivery at 4-all. That seemed to ease the pressure, with the Australian rebounding to break the 2022 US Open semifinalist twice to claim the first set.
Tiafoe, who has been ranked as high as No.10 and ended Hijikata’s run at the US Open last September, fired back in the second.
But the Australian had settled early in the third set when his powerful rival, who he had planned to play doubles with earlier in the year at Indian Wells, took a heavy tumble and was forced to retire with a hip injury trailing 7-5 4-6 1-0.
“Up until that point, I felt like I was playing pretty well. I felt like I had a really good serving performance today,” Hijikata said.
“Obviously (it is) not the way you want to go through and I feel pretty awful for Frances. It didn’t look great. So hopefully he can recover quick. But I’ll take it and I’ll move on to the next one.”
Thompson, meanwhile, broke through for a maiden ATP Tour title in Mexico in February but had won only one match since falling to Tiafoe in the quarterfinals of the US Clay Court Championships in Houston in early April.
Last week he fell to former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic, who set a new record for aces served in a three set match at 47 when defeating local hopeful Cameron Norrie 6-7 (6) 6-3 7-6 (9).
The experience of facing the big-serving Canadian, Thompson said, was “rubbish” when he was serving at his peak.
“Last week, I didn’t even feel like I played tennis. In the second set, he missed three first serves, and it is not like he is rolling it in, so he is a tough opponent on grass,” he said.
Thompson played a poor game at 4-5 in the first set, but was otherwise uncompromising as he put the former world No.4 Rune through a serious test on grass. The longer the match progressed, the more the Australian was able to rattle his highly-touted rival.
By the infancy of the third set, as Rune slipped and slid, complained about the courts and continued to misfire from behind the baseline, the experienced Sydneysider had the match well in control when advancing 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-3.
“I mean, he’s good on all surfaces. He has done well at the French, he has done well at Wimbledon. I think made the semis here last year,” Thompson said.
“So, you know, he’s no stranger to grass. He plays good on it. But … maybe it was me playing more on it last week, getting a match on it last week.
“I lost to Milos last week and he played a great match, but I guess I played a couple of doubles matches and maybe time on the grass, maybe that was the difference.”
Thompson will play the winner of the clash between Alexei Popyrin and Murray, who he upset at Queen’s in 2017 when the Scot was the world No.1, in the second round.
de Minaur, who is seeded second behind Alcaraz, faces talented Italian Lorenzo Musetti in his opening match, while Hijikata will play the victor of a clash between world No.16 Ugo Humbert and Italian Matteo Arnaldi.