{"id":290535,"date":"2023-09-11T06:34:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T06:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=290535"},"modified":"2023-09-11T06:34:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T06:34:53","slug":"balls-and-all-australias-rough-edged-tennis-star-reveals-his-big-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/tennis\/balls-and-all-australias-rough-edged-tennis-star-reveals-his-big-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"Balls and all: Australia\u2019s rough-edged tennis star reveals his big breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Save articles for later<\/h3>\n<p>Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n<h3>Key points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Max Purcell has slashed his ATP singles ranking almost 200 spots this year to a career-high No.43.<\/li>\n<li>Purcell made his top-100 debut in March and is now Australia\u2019s second-ranked men\u2019s player.<\/li>\n<li>The 25-year-old will be a major part of Australia\u2019s bid this week to qualify for the Davis Cup finals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is no one like Max Purcell among Australia\u2019s tennis elite.<\/p>\n<p>The country\u2019s newest star \u2013 who has surged from a ranking of No.220 in January to a career-high 43 \u2013 is rough around the edges, loves a laugh, and is never afraid to speak his mind. That said, he believes he has matured a lot since accusing Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt of not having \u201cthe balls\u201d to tell him he missed out on a 2022 Australian Open wildcard).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.202%2C$multiply_0.5855%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_13\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/66317f47a2a262310b50b7fd1a27455392cabdfe\" height=\"349\" width=\"620\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Max Purcell enjoyed a breakout season on the men\u2019s tour.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>On the court, Purcell is one of the rare professional players willing to serve-volley for large portions of matches, in a throwback to Pat Rafter\u2019s days. In his own words, he loves it when matches \u201cget handsy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There is a fiercely ambitious competitor hidden underneath the Aussie larrikin. After winning last year\u2019s Wimbledon title with Matt Ebden, having also reached the Australian Open final together five months earlier, Purcell sacrificed the partnership this year to chase his singles dream.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.156%2C$multiply_0.7487%2C$ratio_0.666667%2C$width_378%2C$x_86%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/b67f1da6e76953be509fbaaba660b87f724f066c\" height=\"425\" width=\"283\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Purcell and Lleyton Hewitt embrace after last year\u2019s Davis Cup semi-final victory.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old is now Australia\u2019s second-ranked men\u2019s player, behind Alex de Minaur, and set to be a major part of this week\u2019s bid in Manchester, England, to qualify for the Davis Cup finals in November.<\/p>\n<p>Previously a doubles option only in the team competition, Purcell \u2013 who described his relationship these days with Hewitt as \u201cgreat\u201d \u2013 hopes to be on double duty, given his singles career has taken off.<\/p>\n<p>Hewitt is spoilt for choice in Australia\u2019s squad, with Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis also in contention to join de Minaur in playing singles for clashes with Great Britain, France and Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>Only the top two countries will advance from the group. Ebden has arrived, too, fresh from reaching the US Open doubles final with new partner Rohan Bopanna.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s what we want \u2013 as many guys battling for spots as possible,\u201d Purcell told this masthead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll play the match-ups, but I\u2019d love to play singles and doubles here. It all comes down to the coaches and what they think, but I play singles and doubles every week [on tour], so it\u2019s nothing for me to back up, especially when it\u2019s for your country. It\u2019d be pretty cool to grab the No.2 spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Purcell has enjoyed an outstanding year, starting with qualifying for the Australian Open then winning three consecutive Challenger titles in India to barge into the top 100 for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>But that was just the entree: the Sydneysider, coached by Cole Smith, reeled off a brilliant run on the North American ATP hardcourt swing last month to announce himself as a tour de force.<\/p>\n<p>In between, he lost eight of nine matches while recovering from ligament tears and a fractured talar dome in one of his ankles, which he suffered in a Challenger final in South Korea against fellow Aussie Aleks Vukic in May.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors recommended he walk around in a moon boot for up to 12 weeks, but he visited a Croatian guru, used by several of the top Australian players, after Wimbledon, and they put together a plan that kept him on the court.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.183%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/82fd000ed1b63161984dd241187a10743584dbf9\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Max Purcell\u2019s larrikin demeanour belies a fierce competitive edge.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>Purcell went on to qualify for the Toronto Masters, then upset world No.12 Felix Auger-Aliassime for the second time, before pinching a set off Andy Murray. He charged from qualifying again the next week to make the Cincinnati Masters quarter-finals, including taking his maiden top-10 scalp (Casper Ruud) and pushing then-world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz to three sets.<\/p>\n<p>Purcell rounded out his purple patch with a last-eight appearance at Winston-Salem, where he eliminated top-25 opponent Tallon Griekspoor.<\/p>\n<p>That meant plenty of \u201cbig balls\u201d post-match celebrations, for which he has become well known. A first-round US Open exit to countryman Chris O\u2019Connell put a slight dampener on it all, but was more of a blip in an otherwise successful period.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was f&#8212;ing huge. It was a huge confidence-booster,\u201d Purcell said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_2.389%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/f4adb2e4d5f77b0f82885aafb64fd232536c5586\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Max Purcell is known for a unique celebration.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>TennisTV \/ Twitter<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI doubted myself a bit while I was injured, and not moving great. I wondered if once I started feeling good, whether all those losses would destroy my confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I convinced myself that once I was ready, I would pick up right where I left off. It was great to trust myself and believe in myself to do it. I backed myself to play a different game style, only serve-volleying because all these guys at the top level are almost unbeatable from the back of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Australia\u2019s de Minaur (12), Purcell (43), Popyrin (45), Vukic (50), O\u2019Connell (53) \u2013 who won last week\u2019s Shanghai Challenger title, days after winning a set against US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev \u2013 Thompson (55), Kokkinakis (74), Rinky Hijikata (82) and Jason Kubler (94) all started this week in the top 100.<\/p>\n<p>Hewitt\u2019s men finished runner-up to Canada in last year\u2019s Davis Cup competition, but are in an even stronger position 12 months on, even with Nick Kyrgios still sidelined (and not showing any sign of ending his exile from the squad, anyway).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be fighting for that No.1 spot in the group this week, but even finishing top two would be great, after how long everyone\u2019s year has been,\u201d Purcell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will hopefully get to the last match having already locked in our [finals] spot \u2013 but still with the fire to push for the No.1 spot. We had a great run last year, but we\u2019re hungry to go to that next step and win it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Australia\u2019s first match is on Wednesday against Great Britain, and will be broadcast from 10pm AEST on Channel Nine.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b><i>News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b><b><i>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Most Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n<h3>From our partners<\/h3>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/sport\/tennis\/balls-and-all-australia-s-rough-edged-tennis-star-reveals-his-big-breakthrough-20230910-p5e3k5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Key points Max [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Balls and all: Australia\u2019s rough-edged tennis star reveals his big breakthrough - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/tennis\/balls-and-all-australias-rough-edged-tennis-star-reveals-his-big-breakthrough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Balls and all: Australia\u2019s rough-edged tennis star reveals his big breakthrough - All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. 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