The heartwarming reason why distressed Aussie tennis star broke down in tears despite winning a thrilling match at Melbourne Park and earning $225,000
Tears streamed from the eyes of Maddison Inglis despite the fact she’d just won her opening match at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old Aussie broke down after defeating her best friend Kimberly Birrell in a three-hour epic, 7-6(6) 6-7(9) 6-4.
While happy she won, she broke down in tears as she felt for her lifelong friend after knocking her out of the tournament.
‘It’s really, really hard to play such a good friend. The last few days have been a bit stressful,’ Inglis said during her on-court interview.
‘It’s so tough. It was an amazing match with Kim and yeah, I absolutely adore her so it was really hard to see her on the other side.
‘But I’m stoked I could play through those feelings and be in the second round. It means the world.’
Aussie Maddison Inglis was in tears after winning her first-round match on Tuesday
She defeated close friend Kimberly Birrell in a three-set epic. They’ve been close since they were children
The pair hit the court after 9pm and did not finish until after midnight, which was something Inglis had to deal with more than her friend.
‘I don’t consider myself a night person, so it’s different to get going, you know, this late in the day, but, you know, if it’s going to be for anything, it’s for the Australian Open, so I was so pumped,’ she said.
Inglis, who is No.168 in the world, outlasted her world No. 76-ranked friend and will face Indonesian player Aldila Sutjiadi on Thursday at 4pm.
She hit far fewer winners than Birrell but didn’t make as many mistakes and served better as she took the first set in a tiebreaker before losing the second in the same fashion.
Inglis said she knew just how hard it would be to win the deciding set after describing her friend as ‘the queen of comebacks’.
Games went with serve in the third set at 4-4, before Birrell’s inaccurate serve let her down as she double-faulted to give Inglis two break points.
Inglis only needed one to break her friend’s serve before she held her own to seal the match.
Fans online applauded the standard of the match between two players most expect not to go far in the tournament.
Fans praised the standard of the match between the two unseeded players
Inglis has a chance of going through to the third round, which would be her best result at a Grand Slam tournament
‘Underrated match of the day This match was so good, nervous and nail-biting until the end,’ one person wrote on X.
‘What a night. Inglis showing resilience and making every point count. Welcome back to Grand Slam wins,’ another said.
It was the first time Inglis had played at one of the majors since Wimbledon in 2022 when she was knocked out in the first round.
Her best result at a Grand Slam was when she made the third round of the Australian Open in 2022.
To get into the Australian Open, Inglis had to win three qualifying matches, two of which were against seeded opponents.
She’s guaranteed to pocket $225,000 for making the second round and if she can win that match on Thursday, a $327,000 paycheque awaits for making the third round.
