Purcell grasps golden opportunity against Auger-Aliassime
One man’s misery is another man’s fortune.
World No. 190 Max Purcell was handed the opportunity to compete in the singles and doubles draws at Tokyo 2020 after a double dose of bad luck for Andy Murray and Alex de Minaur, but there was nothing fortunate about the way the Australian triumphed on his Olympic debut.
Purcell, who earned a doubles spot at the Games after De Minaur tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the event, took Murray’s place in the singles draw after the Brit elected to concentrate on singles due to a quad muscle tear.
The 23-year-old proved unflustered in the face of his last-minute billing on Centre Court, defeating Felix-Auger Aliassime 6-4 7-6(2) in just shy of two hours.
“I went on court just before 3pm and I found out [I was playing] just before 11am, so I had about four hours' [notice],” revealed Purcell. “But the whole time I’ve been here I’ve been itching to play singles, so I’m always ready.”
Unbeaten in July after winning the Nur-Sultan Challenger before Tokyo 2020, Purcell is hardly performing like Australia’s 11th-highest ranked male singles player. The lucky breaks may have been frequent of late - he also earned a lucky loser entry into the ATP event in Eastbourne in June and ended up reaching the semi-finals - but the results that have followed have been anything but.
“I’ve had two pretty deep runs at singles tournaments lately,” he said. “I’m on a bit of a win-streak right now. The start of this singles run was as a lucky loser into the main draw in Eastbourne, so for sure I’m making the most of it. I’m just keeping that going.”
Purcell’s Tokyo triumph over world No. 15 Auger-Aliassime was just his second win over a Top 50 player, adding to his scalp of then-No. 16 Gael Monfils in Eastbourne last month. And the Sydney native feels that he’s clear on what it takes to compete with players at the very top of the game.
“I feel like the difference between players ranked 200 and Felix, or players around there, is just a bit of belief,” he said. “I felt like I could win, I believed I could win… and I won.”
Purcell is ranked No. 39 in doubles and the 2020 Australian Open runner-up alongside Luke Saville (who also made an Olympic singles cameo on Sunday after replacing injured Hungarian Marton Fucsovics).
He certainly came into this event as a more proficient doubles player, but he'll leave having achieved greater success in singles after he and partner John Peers fell to Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren late on Sunday.
A doubles medal might be off the table, but Purcell may yet write another Olympic fairytale.