Australian Open 2023 unveils the first six local wildcard candidates

Australian Open 2023 unveils the first six local wildcard candidates

Australian Open

The names for the Australian Open 2023 main draw are out. Besides the top seeds, some new players have also got entry into the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. Many players are also going to take part in the competition.

Besides the 7-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams, many young players have also been included in the main draw as a wildcard. The news came in that six young Australian players have been included in the 128-player main draw by the Australian Open 2023 organizers.

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These names include Alexei Popyrin, Jason Kubler, Rinky Hijikata, Storm Hunter, Talia Gibson, and Olivia Gadecki. These players have consistently performed well in the Futures and Challengers tournaments.

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The Australian crowd will have more reasons to back the Australian players in the 2023 Australian Open. It will be a merry surprise for Australian tennis fans if a player amongst these six wins the Australian Open 2023 title.

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Meet the wildcard entrants of the Australian Open 2023

Australian Open 2023 wildcard entrants (Image Credit: Tennis Australia)
Australian Open 2023 wildcard entrants (Image Credit: Tennis Australia)

Jason Kubler is the oldest among the six players who have got a wildcard entry. After struggling with injuries and lack of match practice for a couple of years, the 29-year-old returned to the court in 2022. He could not qualify for 2022 Australian Open but played as a wildcard entrant in both doubles and mixed doubles events.

The Australian also qualified for the French Open for the first time. He reached the second round of the tournament. Here, he was defeated by Cameron Norrie. He reached the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in his career defeating higher-ranked players such as Denis Novak and Jack Sock. However, he lost to Taylor Fritz and was knocked out of the tournament in the fourth round. He also reached the second round of the US Open.

Talia Gibson is the youngest of six. She is going to make her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open 2023. She won three ITF tournament titles in 2022 which helped her cause. Alexei Popyrin is making a comeback of sorts after playing at Melbourne Park in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the tournament. Storm Hunter is another wonderful player who got a wildcard entry into this prestigious tournament. She has performed extremely well in the Billie Jean King Cup finals. She has also been honored with the Billie Jean King Cup Heart Award.

Rinky Hijikata and Olivia Gadecki are upcoming talents. They have performed extremely well in the ITF tournaments. As a result, have got this chance to make their Australian Open debut.

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