A Cinderella story in Doubles…

[Kralingen]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1619326411919032320

There was much more publicity on the Kyrgios-Kokkinakis run to the AO Doubles Final last year, but a pair of Australians have done the exact same feat this year. Wildcards Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler, in their first time playing doubles together, won the Australian Open!

Their run included wins over John Isner, #1 seeded Koolhof/Skupski, #6 Heliovaara/Glasspool, #8 slam finalists Granollers/Zeballos, all extremely experienced doubles pairings.

Have a special place for any UNC player so was especially happy to see this. Rinky is actually still enrolled in college at North Carolina, and Kubler rarely plays doubles - both will get invitations to larger tournaments this year and it’ll be great for their careers. Congratulations to them.

 

[Fabresque]

Hijikata went from #3 doubles at UNC, and not doing particularly very well, to a grand slam doubles title in less than a year. Legendary.

 

[Red Rick]

Sounds like an indictment of doubles tbh.

 

[Moose Malloy]

This result is pretty crazy. It's one thing when good singles players that never play doubles team up and beat top doubles teams, but this is something else. Kubler - 84 in singes, 152 in doubles. Hijikata - 169 in singles, 277 in doubles. I wonder if a less accomplished team in terms of either singles or doubles ranking has won a major before.

Shame how sparse the crowd was for their QF and SF, guess nationality only draws insane crowd support for doubles there when Kyrgios plays.

 

[D-Lite]

This result is pretty crazy. It's one thing when good singles players that never play doubles team up and beat top doubles teams, but this is something else. Kubler - 84 in singes, 152 in doubles. Hijikata - 169 in singles, 277 in doubles. I wonder if a less accomplished team in terms of either singles or doubles ranking has won a major before.

Shame how sparse the crowd was for their QF and SF, guess nationality only draws insane crowd support for doubles there when Kyrgios plays.

1997 was the last time an all-Australian pair won the AO men's doubles prior to Kyrgios/Kokkinakis. It's interesting that 1 year on from The Special Ks' triumph there is another surprise all-Australian team winning it. You're right that Kyrgios and Kokkinakis are more accomplished singles players but even last year was a surprise for many, so this is even more of a shock you could argue. Maybe they have given believe to other teams that you really can rock up and disrupt the doubles game on the big stage. It'll be interesting to see how often they play going forward. They may find their doubles ranking is far higher than their singles so they could be playing singles qualies a lot and playing doubles at smaller tournaments or some weeks playing doubles only at bigger events.

 

[insideguy]

Doubles is a weird competition when ya think about it. No one seems to give a crap. Its too bad.

 

[Sampras-Bruguera 1993]

Doubles is a weird competition when ya think about it. No one seems to give a crap. Its too bad.

Not since Mac/Fleming anyways

 

[Kralingen]

This result is pretty crazy. It's one thing when good singles players that never play doubles team up and beat top doubles teams, but this is something else. Kubler - 84 in singes, 152 in doubles. Hijikata - 169 in singles, 277 in doubles. I wonder if a less accomplished team in terms of either singles or doubles ranking has won a major before.

Shame how sparse the crowd was for their QF and SF, guess nationality only draws insane crowd support for doubles there when Kyrgios plays.

Especially when you consider neither are terrifically gifted servers (which obviously Kyrgios/Kokkinakis were, and singles guys who have been successful like Isner/Sock)

 

[Sudacafan]

What this tells us?

 

[smalahove]

What this tells us?

TT not much about doubles know.

 

[Cashman]

Hijikata went from #3 doubles at UNC, and not doing particularly very well, to a grand slam doubles title in less than a year. Legendary.

He talks a bit about his UNC experience in the post-match press conference (starts at 8:28 but the whole thing is gold)

guess nationality only draws insane crowd support for doubles there when Kyrgios plays.

Melbourne is the biggest Greek city outside Greece so Greek-Australians get absolutely bonkers support when they play

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Well done to the Aussie boys.

This means an all Aussie pairing has won 3 of the last 5 mens doubles slams.

Kyrgios/Kokkinakis - 2022 Australian Open
Ebden/Purcell - 2022 Wimbledon
Hijikata/Kubler - 2023 Australian Open

 

[Aussie Darcy]

This is really starting to look embarrassing for all these professional players who only play doubles and do so at every tournament year in year out and yet again, singles players coming in on a wildcard defeat them all the way to the title.

 

[accidental]

Remember how last year Kyrgios/Kokkinakis played after the women’s final where Ash Barty won, and then Kyrgios tried to take the credit for the record tv ratings

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Remember how last year Kyrgios/Kokkinakis played after the women’s final where Ash Barty won, and then Kyrgios tried to take the credit for the record tv ratings

He’s probably the most self absorbed tennis player out there. De Minaur got smoked by Novak and Kyrgios had to tweet and remind us that he has defeated him multiple times. His own friend had his ass handed to him by Novak and Kyrgios went “oh I know, I’ll tweet about how I’ve beaten that guy before”!

 

[big ted]

im glad these nobodies won because it reminds everyone that kyrgios' win last year was no big deal

 

[Aussie Darcy]

im glad these nobodies won because it reminds everyone that kyrgios' win last year was no big deal

Was waiting for some tweet by him claiming he paved the way for Hijikata/Kubler’s success.

 

[Moose Malloy]

No rest for Hijikata- playing the finals of a challenger in Burnie, Australia tomorrow vs Duckworth

 

[Shaolin]

Sounds like an indictment of doubles tbh.

Any Rinky-dink team can win nowadays.

 

[Moose Malloy]

So Hijikata-Kubler played together for the first time since Australia with little success. 1st round losses in IW and Miami. Guess they'll probably need another wildcard to defend their title next year.

 

[LuckyR]

You'd think on a dedicated tennis forum that playing in the Zone would be well appreciated. No wild theories required.