Aussie duo Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler played their wildcard to perfection and won’t be “living off the smell of an oily rag” this season.
from men’s doubles pair Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata is only the beginning, say tennis experts, with the prize money expected to propel the duo to much greater heights.
A packed crowd cheered on the hometown duo at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, actor Russell Crowe and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates. The crowd was treated to incredible tennis, with Hijikata and Kubler staving off their opponents Hugo Nys and Poland’s Jan Zielinski in two sets.
“It makes a massive difference. Obviously winning Grand Slams, singles especially, but doubles also, I would almost say to an extent is a career-changing thing. I feel after this, I can really almost choose who I want to come and when I want them to come, which is pretty cool,” Kubler told reporters after the match on Saturday night.
“I think we were just happy to be in the draw, to be honest. We looked at our draw, we were like ‘Geez if we could win one match or so, that would be a pretty good effort,’” said Hijikata.Hijikata and Kubler are the third all-Australian team to win the men’s doubles, riding on the success of Thanassi Kokinakis and Nick Kyrgios last year after Woodbridge and Mark Woodford dominated the sport throughout the 1990s.
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