Yet,if nothing else,our best males cast in a supporting role have showed that,while they can’t quite keep an Australian Open campaign alive into the second week,they certainly die hard.
Anyone who watched Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson respectively snaffle sets off Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas,or Chris O’Connell push America’s smiling slugger Ben Shelton deep into overtime,would understand that only a few points either way would have changed what has become familiar storyline at Melbourne Park.
And that was before Max Purcell took Norway’s Casper Ruud,an accomplished,three-time grand slam finalist and a former world No.2,all the way to a fifth set tie-break to decide their epic Thursday afternoon encounter,6-3,6-7(5-7),6-3,3-6,7-6 (10-7).
Throughout his stay here,Sydney-based Purcell has variously taken issue with the quality of local coffee,the tennis-ball-coloured shirts worn by stadium staff at Melbourne Park – “I’m like,what the f--- are you doing? I can’t see the ball!” – and an absent-minded ball kid who fetched a drink bottle at the wrong time.
As a triumvirate of concerns,they can be duly filed and forgotten,along with other random stuff said over the years by a player kindly described as something of a loose unit. But if there is one thing Purcell has no cause to complain about,it is Melbourne’s notoriously fickle weather.
A day of dark clouds,bright sunshine,rain,occasional warmth and a biting southerly win played havoc with tournament organisers and ground staff,who were forced to abandon play on the outside courts for a good chunk of the afternoon.