The Australian tennis scene has been dealt a devastating blow as Ajla Tomljanovic, their most prominent WTA player, pulled out of the French Open due to a persistent knee injury. This withdrawal has shattered a historic streak, leaving Australia without a direct entrant in the women’s singles at the prestigious tournament for the first time in 55 years.
Having not played since last year’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November, world No.46 Tomljanovic was hoping to finally return to competition at the 2023 French Open. Talking to the media ahead of the clay-court major in Paris, the Croatian-born Australian revealed a heartbreaking truth that she still needed more time to properly recover her body. A lucky loser will replace her.
With the withdrawal of the highest-ranked WTA player representing Australia, the country will not have a direct entrant in the women’s singles draw at Roland Garros for the first time since the Open Era began in 1968. Australian wildcard Kim Birrell, ranked 111th in the world, is the only female confirmed in the women’s singles draw.
Remarkably, even while sidelined by her knee injury, Tomljanovic managed to reach a career-high ranking of No.32 in early April. In a candid comment, she reflected on the irony of her achievement, stating, “It always happens when you stop caring about it.” (source: Yahoo, photo: Jimmie48)
Do you really think anyone is bothered about this? Although Ajla may technically be an Australian citizen, her connection to the country is pretty attenuated, and she doesn’t live here. So I don’t know that it is a devastating blow that she can’t play (except presumably to her). Daria Gavrilova, for example, has been adopted much more enthusiastically as she lives here and is married to an Australian.
CLT, my intention was not to upset anyone, I just thought it was interesting news to share. It was a really long streak that is now broken and I thought it was worth mentioning. All journalists refer to Ajla as Australian and she is Australian. A lot of people have mixed backgrounds, so it can get very complex to determine who is a “real” representative of some country, who is just 60% and who is 20%.
I’ve got nothing against Ajla, and I know she is always described as Australian, which she is, I’m just saying I don’t think many Australian tennis fans are that invested in her story. In fact to me she seems like a player who never quite reached her potential. She has really clean groundstrokes but a very one-dimensional game.
I think you got the “devastating blow” bit it from Fox News or equivalent which is renowned for making a sensational story out of nothing. The more interesting thing is that we actually have two players in the women’s draw who haven’t had much success at grand slam level before, including Storm Hunter who is doing incredibly well in doubles and also had several really good victories in qualifying. It would be great if either of them were able to win a few matches.