With the 2021 Australian Open in the headlines this week, Tennis Acumen today features Australian Chris O'Connell.
Christopher "Chris" O'Connell (born 3 June 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. He grew up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. O'Connell reached a career high ATP singles ranking of 114 on 3 February 2020. He made his ATP Tour debut in January 2017 in his hometown at the Sydney International.
TENNIS ACUMEN: Do you get support from other Australian players or Tennis Australia, the federation down there?
CHRIS O’CONNELL: I don't play too many times against Australian guys. I play a lot in Europe. A lot of the Australian guys don't really play over there that much. The last couple of years, I haven't had too much support from Tennis Australia. But I'm getting a bit of support this year, and they also gave me a wildcard into the Australian Open this year. That was a huge help financially as well.
TENNIS ACUMEN: OK very cool you know. Are you close with John Millman?
CHRIS O’CONNELL: Yes, I used to train with him, a little bit a few years ago when I was living in Brisbane for a while. Whenever I see him, we speak. Yeah, he's a nice guy.
TENNIS ACUMEN: He really is one of the sweetest guys ever. A very nice guy. Other favorite players on the tour, people that you spend time with?
CHRIS O’CONNELL: Mostly the Aussie guys. I'm pretty friendly with a guy called Danilo Petrovic, a Serbian guy. I'm friendly with a lot of Swedish players. I trained in Sweden a little bit. And then, all the Aussie players are very close.
TENNIS ACUMEN: What are your passions, outside of tennis? Music, movies, food, fashion?
CHRIS O’CONNELL: I’m obsessed with music and I like reading as well. So, I spend most my time off court listening to music and reading quite a bit.
TENNIS ACUMEN: Your favorite bands?
CHRIS O’CONNELL: A lot of pretty underground Australian bands and I stick to the surf rock sort of genre.
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