Sky's the limit: Joint inspires Aussie Wimbledon launch
The 19-year-old US-born prodigy Joint, popular among her new-found Australian mates, gave them all a boost on the weekend before Wimbledon by winning her first grass-court title at the prestigious curtain-raiser at Eastbourne.
The vastly experienced Tomljanovic, twice a Wimbledon quarter-finalist, and Talia Gibson, who has a high-profile shot at four-time grand slam champ Naomi Osaka, lead the opening-day Aussie challenge on a baking hot Monday at the All England Club.
Joint won't make her Wimbledon bow until Tuesday against 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova, and Tomljanovic thinks the break will be key for her.
After her first title win in Morocco on clay five weeks ago, Joint then had to jet straight from Rabat to Paris for the French Open and didn't look anywhere near her best as Tomljanovic defeated her.
"I think it'll help her this time, because she'll have learned a bit from that quick turnaround in Paris. And you'd take a final or a title before a slam any day of the week, even if it's a quick turnaround," Tomljanovic said.
"I think the sky's the limit for her. Tennis is in a place where you can't really put numbers on people, especially how well she's been doing at such a young age.
"She seems not to be fazed by anything, she's such a cool person. She's different, which I like. When you spend time with her, she's quiet, then she'll come out with, like, a really funny joke out of nowhere.
"On court she's quick, and there's not really many holes in her game."
Tomljanovic faces former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who Joint defeated on the way to her Eastbourne crown, and reckoned she'd be picking the youngster's brains about how to play her on grass.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Gibson still can't quite believe she'll be making her own Wimbledon debut after saving a match point in her final round of qualifying as she gets ready to face Osaka, who's returning after a maternity break.
It's potentially a golden opportunity for the Perth player because 27-year-old Osaka has had inconsistent results since coming back following the birth of her daughter Shai in July 2023.
"It was very exciting to see that I'm coming up against her,'' Gibson said.
"It would be very easy to get a bit nervous and get too caught up in the name of who's down the other end, but I think it's going to be an amazing experience.
"It's been really great to watch Naomi play when I was growing up. She's definitely an inspiration."
Leading the men's charge will be 20th seed Alexei Popyrin, looking forward to his first "tennis Ashes'' battle at Wimbledon against British wildcard Arthur Fery.
"He's a good player, like all the Brits, they grow up on grass, know how to play on the surface, and I've heard his dad may be a member of this club, so he knows the place inside out," Popyrin said.
"He'll have the home crowd on his side, so that will also be a little bit of a challenge, but I'm feeling good and I'm ready to go."
AUSTRALIANS IN ACTION ON DAY ONE OF WIMBLEDON
(Prefix number denotes seeding) (WC = wildcard) (Q = qualifier)
MEN
(20) Alexei Popyrin v (WC) Arthur Fery (GBR)
Jordan Thompson v Vit Kopriva (CZE)
Chris O'Connell v (Q) Adrian Mannarino (FRA)
James Duckworth v (25) Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
WOMEN
Olivia Gadecki v Greet Minnen (BEL)
Kim Birrell v (22) Donna Vekic (CRO)
Ajla Tomljanovic v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
Talia Gibson (Q) v Naomi Osaka (JPN)
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