Vine blooms amid Plapp's gloom in Aussie Giro drama
Australian cyclist Jay Vine has once again demonstrated his considerable courage by overcoming a knee injury to finish a superb third in the second-stage time trial at the Giro d'Italia.
But while Vine rebounded magnificently from a first-stage spill which he had feared might prevent him from lining up in Albania on Saturday, his compatriot Luke Plapp, the national time trial champ who had been flying through the streets of Tirana, had his chances flattened by his own crash.
Vine delivered a superb ride on the 13.7km circuit around the capital 24 hours after he had taken a heavy fall and finished only three seconds behind British stage winner Josh Tarling and two seconds adrift of race favourite Primoz Roglic, who ended the day in the leader's pink jersey.
The 2023 Australian time trial champ Vine had his right knee heavily strapped, which made observers wonder whether, if he had been fully firing, the in-form UAE Team Emirates rider might even have taken the stage victory himself.
On Friday, Vine, who's making a tremendous 2025 comeback after suffering what he had feared might be a career-ending crash with cracked vertebrae at last year's Tour of the Basque Country, was unable to avoid an accident in which Mikel Landa's Giro ended by injury.
Saying his thoughts had all been with the Spaniard, who also endured a fractured vertebra, Vine admitted before the second stage: "Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to start today, but the knee's feeling much better and I'll be back on the start line."
This time the misfortune was all with Jayco AlUla's Plapp, the three-time Australian TT champ who slid off his bike earlier in the day as he rounded a tight corner and, after remounting on a new bike, could only limp home as the slowest finisher among the 182 riders some four minutes adrift.
No-one could match the 16min 7sec effort of the 21-year-old British champ Tarling, who's the youngest ever Giro time trial winner.
But 2023 Giro champ Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) demonstrated he's in the mood to regain his title as he powered home fractionally short of his target.
Michael Storer, Australia's best hope of challenging Roglic in the overall standings, also had a super day, finishing 19th on the stage in 16:35. Among the GC contenders, the Tudor Pro rider, the recent Tour of the Alps victor, is ninth overall, 27 seconds behind the Slovenian leader.
Denmark's Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the opening-stage winner on Friday, could only finish 12 seconds behind in seventh, having to relinquish the leader's jersey to Roglic by a mere second.
But he may have a good chance to regain it on Sunday in the last of the Albanian stages in a 160km ride that starts and finishes in Vlore.
Australia's 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley was 35th quickest on the day but lies 16th overall, 39 seconds behind.
Australian cyclist Jay Vine has once again demonstrated his considerable courage by overcoming a knee injury to finish a superb third in the second-stage time trial at the Giro d'Italia.
But while Vine rebounded magnificently from a first-stage spill which he had feared might prevent him from lining up in Albania on Saturday, his compatriot Luke Plapp, the national time trial champ who had been flying through the streets of Tirana, had his chances flattened by his own crash.
Vine delivered a superb ride on the 13.7km circuit around the capital 24 hours after he had taken a heavy fall and finished only three seconds behind British stage winner Josh Tarling and two seconds adrift of race favourite Primoz Roglic, who ended the day in the leader's pink jersey.
The 2023 Australian time trial champ Vine had his right knee heavily strapped, which made observers wonder whether, if he had been fully firing, the in-form UAE Team Emirates rider might even have taken the stage victory himself.
On Friday, Vine, who's making a tremendous 2025 comeback after suffering what he had feared might be a career-ending crash with cracked vertebrae at last year's Tour of the Basque Country, was unable to avoid an accident in which Mikel Landa's Giro ended by injury.
Saying his thoughts had all been with the Spaniard, who also endured a fractured vertebra, Vine admitted before the second stage: "Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to start today, but the knee's feeling much better and I'll be back on the start line."
This time the misfortune was all with Jayco AlUla's Plapp, the three-time Australian TT champ who slid off his bike earlier in the day as he rounded a tight corner and, after remounting on a new bike, could only limp home as the slowest finisher among the 182 riders some four minutes adrift.
No-one could match the 16min 7sec effort of the 21-year-old British champ Tarling, who's the youngest ever Giro time trial winner.
But 2023 Giro champ Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) demonstrated he's in the mood to regain his title as he powered home fractionally short of his target.
Michael Storer, Australia's best hope of challenging Roglic in the overall standings, also had a super day, finishing 19th on the stage in 16:35. Among the GC contenders, the Tudor Pro rider, the recent Tour of the Alps victor, is ninth overall, 27 seconds behind the Slovenian leader.
Denmark's Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the opening-stage winner on Friday, could only finish 12 seconds behind in seventh, having to relinquish the leader's jersey to Roglic by a mere second.
But he may have a good chance to regain it on Sunday in the last of the Albanian stages in a 160km ride that starts and finishes in Vlore.
Australia's 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley was 35th quickest on the day but lies 16th overall, 39 seconds behind.
Australian cyclist Jay Vine has once again demonstrated his considerable courage by overcoming a knee injury to finish a superb third in the second-stage time trial at the Giro d'Italia.
But while Vine rebounded magnificently from a first-stage spill which he had feared might prevent him from lining up in Albania on Saturday, his compatriot Luke Plapp, the national time trial champ who had been flying through the streets of Tirana, had his chances flattened by his own crash.
Vine delivered a superb ride on the 13.7km circuit around the capital 24 hours after he had taken a heavy fall and finished only three seconds behind British stage winner Josh Tarling and two seconds adrift of race favourite Primoz Roglic, who ended the day in the leader's pink jersey.
The 2023 Australian time trial champ Vine had his right knee heavily strapped, which made observers wonder whether, if he had been fully firing, the in-form UAE Team Emirates rider might even have taken the stage victory himself.
On Friday, Vine, who's making a tremendous 2025 comeback after suffering what he had feared might be a career-ending crash with cracked vertebrae at last year's Tour of the Basque Country, was unable to avoid an accident in which Mikel Landa's Giro ended by injury.
Saying his thoughts had all been with the Spaniard, who also endured a fractured vertebra, Vine admitted before the second stage: "Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to start today, but the knee's feeling much better and I'll be back on the start line."
This time the misfortune was all with Jayco AlUla's Plapp, the three-time Australian TT champ who slid off his bike earlier in the day as he rounded a tight corner and, after remounting on a new bike, could only limp home as the slowest finisher among the 182 riders some four minutes adrift.
No-one could match the 16min 7sec effort of the 21-year-old British champ Tarling, who's the youngest ever Giro time trial winner.
But 2023 Giro champ Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) demonstrated he's in the mood to regain his title as he powered home fractionally short of his target.
Michael Storer, Australia's best hope of challenging Roglic in the overall standings, also had a super day, finishing 19th on the stage in 16:35. Among the GC contenders, the Tudor Pro rider, the recent Tour of the Alps victor, is ninth overall, 27 seconds behind the Slovenian leader.
Denmark's Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the opening-stage winner on Friday, could only finish 12 seconds behind in seventh, having to relinquish the leader's jersey to Roglic by a mere second.
But he may have a good chance to regain it on Sunday in the last of the Albanian stages in a 160km ride that starts and finishes in Vlore.
Australia's 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley was 35th quickest on the day but lies 16th overall, 39 seconds behind.
Australian cyclist Jay Vine has once again demonstrated his considerable courage by overcoming a knee injury to finish a superb third in the second-stage time trial at the Giro d'Italia.
But while Vine rebounded magnificently from a first-stage spill which he had feared might prevent him from lining up in Albania on Saturday, his compatriot Luke Plapp, the national time trial champ who had been flying through the streets of Tirana, had his chances flattened by his own crash.
Vine delivered a superb ride on the 13.7km circuit around the capital 24 hours after he had taken a heavy fall and finished only three seconds behind British stage winner Josh Tarling and two seconds adrift of race favourite Primoz Roglic, who ended the day in the leader's pink jersey.
The 2023 Australian time trial champ Vine had his right knee heavily strapped, which made observers wonder whether, if he had been fully firing, the in-form UAE Team Emirates rider might even have taken the stage victory himself.
On Friday, Vine, who's making a tremendous 2025 comeback after suffering what he had feared might be a career-ending crash with cracked vertebrae at last year's Tour of the Basque Country, was unable to avoid an accident in which Mikel Landa's Giro ended by injury.
Saying his thoughts had all been with the Spaniard, who also endured a fractured vertebra, Vine admitted before the second stage: "Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to start today, but the knee's feeling much better and I'll be back on the start line."
This time the misfortune was all with Jayco AlUla's Plapp, the three-time Australian TT champ who slid off his bike earlier in the day as he rounded a tight corner and, after remounting on a new bike, could only limp home as the slowest finisher among the 182 riders some four minutes adrift.
No-one could match the 16min 7sec effort of the 21-year-old British champ Tarling, who's the youngest ever Giro time trial winner.
But 2023 Giro champ Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) demonstrated he's in the mood to regain his title as he powered home fractionally short of his target.
Michael Storer, Australia's best hope of challenging Roglic in the overall standings, also had a super day, finishing 19th on the stage in 16:35. Among the GC contenders, the Tudor Pro rider, the recent Tour of the Alps victor, is ninth overall, 27 seconds behind the Slovenian leader.
Denmark's Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), the opening-stage winner on Friday, could only finish 12 seconds behind in seventh, having to relinquish the leader's jersey to Roglic by a mere second.
But he may have a good chance to regain it on Sunday in the last of the Albanian stages in a 160km ride that starts and finishes in Vlore.
Australia's 2022 Giro champion Jai Hindley was 35th quickest on the day but lies 16th overall, 39 seconds behind.
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The Advertiser
5 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Sky's the limit: Joint inspires Aussie Wimbledon launch
Ajla Tomljanovic has declared the sky's the limit for Australia's new tennis shooting star Maya Joint. 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) Ajla Tomljanovic has declared the sky's the limit for Australia's new tennis shooting star Maya Joint. 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) Ajla Tomljanovic has declared the sky's the limit for Australia's new tennis shooting star Maya Joint. 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) Ajla Tomljanovic has declared the sky's the limit for Australia's new tennis shooting star Maya Joint. 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)
Mercury
6 hours ago
- Mercury
NRL 2025: Kevin Proctor knocked out at RUNIT event by Jordan Simi in Dubai
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Perth Now
7 hours ago
- Perth Now
Sky's the limit: Joint inspires Aussie Wimbledon launch
Ajla Tomljanovic has declared the sky's the limit for Australia's new tennis shooting star Maya Joint. 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)
