‘Silent Assassin’ Christopher O’Connell excited for Jannik Sinner challenge | ATP Tour

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‘Silent Assassin’ O’Connell excited for Sinner challenge

Pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series tied 1-1

August 31, 2024

When Christopher O’Connell walks onto the court inside Arthur Ashe Stadium Saturday, he will have the biggest opportunity of his career. The Australian will try to reach the fourth round at a major for the first time with the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Jannik Sinner, standing in his way. But do not expect any theatrics from the 30-year-old.

Jordan Thompson, another Aussie still in the draw at Flushing Meadows, was quick to describe his fellow Sydneysider, with whom he has trained, enjoyed meat pies and gone swimming.

“Silent assassin. He’s a quiet achiever,” said Thompson, with whom he shares coach Marinko Matosevic. “Everything about him is quiet, so I think he likes going under the radar, and he’s had some great results, and probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves… Maybe that’s just [the way] he likes it.”

O’Connell has climbed as high as World No. 53, reached two ATP Tour semi-finals and played eight matches against Top 10 opponents. But he does not make a splash with how he behaves on court.

The five-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist is content keeping to himself and not standing under the spotlight. Even so, his story is an incredible one.

In early 2018, O’Connell struggled with knee tendonitis and did not play a tournament for more than six months. At that point, he had never cracked the Top 200. During his time away, the Aussie cleaned boats.

O’Connell always planned on returning to the sport, but after dealing with injuries he wanted to get away and elected to skip coaching and do something that was more relaxing at the time.

“I’ve spoken about that story a lot,” O’Connell said earlier this year before playing Sinner in Miami. “Probably should never have mentioned it.” 

But since his return, O’Connell has become a consistent presence in the Top 100. He has proven his resiliency, even this week.

Entering the US Open with a 3-9 record in his past 12 matches, O’Connell has eliminated 26th seed Nicolas Jarry and surging Italian Mattia Bellucci to make the third round at a major for the third time.

“It’s really exciting, especially how my year sort of panned out over the past few months,” O’Connell said. “Super exciting to be in a third round here.”

Now he will need to find a way to overcome the top seed, Sinner, against whom he has split two previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings.

Watch Sinner vs. O’Connell Miami Highlights:

“That’s going to be tough, yeah,” O’Connell said. “But really exciting to play Jannik. Hopefully it’s going to be on a big court.”

It will be on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the biggest tennis-only stadium in the world. O’Connell will try to rely on the happy memories of his 2021 Atlanta win against the Italian, when Sinner was 19. Earlier this year, the reigning Australian Open champion won 6-4, 6-3 in Miami.

“I played him more recently in Miami, so I got to see the improvements he’s made. At the same time, I’ve improved,” O’Connell said. “But in saying that, I think he’s just tightened up his game a lot more. I mean, he’s still super aggressive, great ball-striker. But I didn’t get as many errors in Miami as I did in Atlanta.

“Admittedly, Atlanta is pretty lively and quick and a bit of altitude and he just came from grass. But yeah, Darren [Cahill] is doing an unbelievable job with him. I mean, his whole team is. He’s playing some really good tennis, coming into the net a little bit more. His serve’s improved.”