Rinky Hijikata doesn’t usually watch his tennis matches back but after beating Novak Djokovic last week, and becoming just the fourth Australian to do so, the 25-year-old found himself reliving the highlights.
“It’s one I’ll remember forever,” Hijikata said.
“I didn’t realise I was going to win until the last ball went in.
“I’ve watched [Djokovic] play for so long. I’ve seen him come away from so many matches where he’s match point down or in impossible situations. So there’s always a chance to claw his way back and that’s always in the back of your mind.”
That 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over the 24-time grand slam winner at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris pushed Hijikata to his career best singles ranking of world No.59, making him the top-ranked Australian to compete at the United Cup in Sydney in January.
The Sydneysider will appear at the tournament alongside USA’s Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton, Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Victoria Mboko, with the lineup revealed on Thursday morning.
Australia’s No.1 ranked woman, Talia Gibson, will also compete in the Cup as Australia look to beat their previous best result of making the semi-finals in 2024 and 2025.
It was Djokovic and his Serbian teammates who Australia had to get past in 2024 to make it to the semi-finals. Back then it was Alex de Minaur who defeated Djokovic 6-4, 6-4 to claim his first victory over the then world No.1.
Though Djokovic isn’t entering the United Cup next year, Hijikata will face plenty of other top players as Australia are grouped with Great Britain, Greece, France, Belgium, Czechia and Argentina in Sydney, while the USA, Poland, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan compete in Perth.
“I love being able to compete against the best players in the world, and sometimes you get absolutely chopped and it is what it is,” he said. “But that’s why you pick up a tennis racket in the first place, to be able to play in these big matches and the biggest courts in the world.
“So to be able to play guys that are ranked in the top 10, ranked in the top five, they’re always the guys that you want to come up against. Hopefully later in the week rather than earlier, but they’re always the matches you look forward to and they’re the ones that you remember.”
Gibson, 22, is entering the Cup with the hopes of extending her run as the top ranked Australian woman as world No.65.
“It’s definitely something I didn’t expect to achieve so early on, and I hope that I can carry that further in the future and be able to have that title for many more moments in my career,” Gibson said.
The United Cup starts on January 1 with Alex Bolt, Marc Polmans, Daria Saville and Ellen Perez rounding out the Australian team.
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