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Picture credit score: Hameltion/Wikimedia Commons
4 Australians have obtained wild playing cards into the 2026 Australian Open.
Aussies Rinky Hijikata, Priscilla Hon, Talia Gibson and Taylah Preston obtained wild playing cards to play in the primary draw at Melbourne Park in January.
It boosts the variety of Australians within the singles principal attracts to 16 – eight within the males’s, and eight within the girls’s.
Hon’s wildcard comes off the again of a career-best season, throughout which she reached the third spherical of a Grand Slam for the primary time – on the US Open – shortly earlier than making her High-100 debut.
The 27-year-old Queenslander additionally certified for Wimbledon, superior to the third spherical of the WTA 1000 match in Beijing, and received two ITF W75 titles, in Brisbane and Romania.
“I’m so extremely grateful to Tennis Australia for the wildcard,” Hon stated, who hit a career-high rating of world No.94 in mid-October earlier than dropping to her present mark of 119th.
“I pushed my physique laborious to attempt to keep away from needing one, however I’m very grateful for his or her continued assist. I’m proud to signify Australia and might’t wait to see how far I can go!”
Hijikata and Dutch companion David Pel reached the Wimbledon doubles last. It was his second Grand Slam doubles last, after he and fellow Australian Jason Kubler received the AO 2023 title.
In singles, Hijikata received the Playford Challenger – rising to world No.114 in consequence – and in addition received rounds at Wimbledon, Indian Wells and Miami.
Hijikata, whose greatest Grand Slam singles outcome was a fourth-round run on the 2023 US Open, will compete in his fourth consecutive AO principal draw.
“I’m very grateful to get one other alternative to play in the primary draw on the AO,” Hijikata stated.
“There’s nothing higher than competing at a house Slam and I’ve had a few of my greatest recollections in Melbourne. I can’t await the electrical ambiance in January.”
A red-hot Preston received 31 of her final 37 matches in 2025.
The 20-year-old, a former top-10 junior, will likely be making the third Grand Slam main-draw look after competing on the Australian and US Opens in 2024.
Gibson, in the meantime, loved a late-season excessive when she was chosen within the Australian Billie Jean King Cup workforce for the primary time, as a part of Australia’s Play-off marketing campaign in Hobart.
The next week, she travelled to Sydney and received the Australian Professional Tour title there, considered one of three ITF titles she received in 2025 at W50 degree or above.
Predominant-draw wildcards have additionally been awarded to French gamers Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah and Kyrian Jacquet, as introduced by the French Tennis Federation.
Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 20, lately broke by for her first WTA title in Sao Paulo and is nearing the highest 100 after starting 2025 outdoors the highest 350. Jacquet, in the meantime, reached his first ATP-level quarterfinal in Metz final month, shortly earlier than hitting a career-high rating of 137th.
Extra wildcards will likely be introduced forward of the Australian Open 2026 principal draw, starting January 18th.
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