By Scoop Malinowski
Status: ATP no. 45 in singles and no. 35 in doubles. 2022 Wimbledon gentleman’s doubles champion. Member of 2023 Australian Davis Cup team which will face Italy in the final tomorrow.
Ht: 6-1 Wt: 170
DOB: April 3, 1988 In: Sydney, Australia
First Tennis Memory: I don’t have anything specific. My sister is three years older than me. So I would get dragged along when she was playing and just try to catch lizards and stuff. When I was old enough, I was like, Have a go. And that was it.
Tennis Inspirations: Roger. I love watching Roger play. He has some of the softest hands ever. That’s one of the reasons I love playing tennis is I love kinda feeling the tennis ball on the strings and kinda feeling where I can put the ball on the court.
First Famous Player You Met Or Encountered: I reckon I brought the towel on court for Gilles Simon when I was maybe nine? I was a ball kid. I just brought a towel and it was two kids and me and we just put a towel next to him. As we walked him on the court, gave him a towel. He played Troicki in the final of Sydney whatever year that was.
Current Car: Hyundai Venue (subcompact SUV).
Last Book Read: It’s been over a decade since I started and finished a book. No joke. Maybe a cook book.
Greatest Sports Moment: Winning Wimbledon.
Most Painful Moment: … that’s a tough one… It was pretty hard losing both the Aussie Opens before that (2020 AO with Saville, 2022 AO with Ebden). But pretty stoked for making the finals there. I don’t know, man, I haven’t had as many painful moments as I’ve had like the highs. So I don’t remember them as much.
Favorite Tournaments: Wimbledon, Australian Open, always love going back to Houston. That’s the first time I won a tour event (2022). And any second after that is anything on grass courts because I love grass court tournaments.
Which Match(es) Did You Feel At Your Very Best: In the end of the fourth set and the whole fifth set and the super tiebreaker in that (Wimbledon) final – I felt like I couldn’t miss a ball.
Funny Tennis Memory: What made me laugh?… I had a friend Nick Horton, who was in China and he’d eaten something and he shit his pants on court. And so then he obviously had to go take a toilet break and then he left his shorts and his undies in the shower in the bathroom and never spoke of it again. (Pro?) ITF juniors.
Embarrassing Tennis Memory: Nothing as big as that, that’s for sure [smiles]. Today I think I lost like 19 points straight at some point in the second set (vs. Andy Murray in Newport, after being ahead a set and a break). That was a little embarrassing.
Strangest Match: For sure the windiest match I ever played was yesterday against Mannarino. That was pretty strange how windy that was. I played Australian Open qualifying in 2020 and I was 4-love, double-break down in the third set (vs. Gianluca Mager) and my coach was looking at me like, just fold, mate. And I was like, no, I’ll still win this. And I ended up winning 6-4 in the third and qualified for the next match.
Funniest Players Encountered: A lot of the Aussie players are really funny. Ducks (James Duckworth) is funny. Kubs (Jason Kubler) is funny. Sav (Luke Saville) and I, when we used to play doubles together used to speak a lot of shit a lot of like nickname stuff.
Why Do You Love Playing Tennis: Seeing new places. I don’t like to sit in an office. I like getting to meet new people. I like that I get to bring my partner with me, my girlfriend with me. So she gets to see a lot of things as well. And nothing really beats the feeling as when you win a big match.
Favorite Sport Outside Tennis: Cricket. I like cricket more than tennis. I wish I played cricket.
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Chocolate mint.
Favorite Artists: My girlfriend [Chloe Deith] is a fabulous painter. Like I can’t quite understand how people can do that. Because I like have something in mind and I look at a piece of paper and there’s no way my hand is doing that. So I have a lot of respect for people who can draw.
People Qualities Most Admired: Gotta be sense of humor. Good manners. But sense of humor is probably number one though.
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Australia · Dunlop Tennis · Max Purcell · Wimbledon
