OLIVIA THE GIANT KILLER
GC teen rides the Barty party to pull off one of tennis’s greatest ever wins
GOLD Coast teenager Olivia Gadecki produced one of the greatest upsets in modern tennis history by defeating defending Australian Open champion and World No. 4 Sofia Kenin at the Phillip Island Trophy WTA Event.
Gadecki was ranked 723 places below her opponent. She is just 18 years old. Gadecki rebounded from losing the first set 2-6 on Sunday to come from behind, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, to defeat her American opponent in the second round of the tournament.
She might have heard the cheers of her supporters from home all the way in Melbourne.
“We’re incredibly proud of Olivia,” said Nigel Hughes, Gadecki’s former principal at Southport State High School.
“We love it when our students do well, especially on the world stage.
“She was always an exceptional tennis player and it’s great to see it all come to fruition for her.
“She comes from a lovely family and she was such a hard-working kid who deserves everything she gets.
“She is a huge inspiration four our community and we are incredible inspired by what Olivia has gone and achieved. This will be something we use to inspire our students on and off the sporting field and courts.”
Tennis Gold Coast president Mike Forde said it was fantastic for a local player to record a big win.
“Upsets happen every day in tennis, we’re just fortunate she was in the right spot and her preparation met the opportunity to deliver this outstanding result,” he said.
“We’re so proud of what she’s done and hopefully it can launch bigger and better things for Olivia from here.”
While her international opponent spent hotel quarantine hitting balls against a wall, Gadecki was fortunate to enlist fellow Queenslander and world No.1 Ash Barty as her practice partner.
On Sunday, she may as well have conquered the world.
TEENAGE tennis sensation Olivia Gadecki is targeting a top-300 ranking by year’s end, after a breakthrough match which saw her rewrite the record books by beating the world No. 4.
Gadecki is currently unranked on the WTA singles leaderboard and has a careerhigh ranking of 988.
Before this year, the Gold Coaster had never faced an opponent ranked in the top 200, but on Sunday she took down 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in a David and Goliath battle during the Phillip Island Trophy, triumphing 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
Kenin had hoped to use the tournament to regain confidence in her game after a shock second-round exit from the Australian Open.
Gadecki knew the American was feeling down — and set out to use it to her advantage.
In winning, she became the first unranked teenager to defeat a top-10 player since 1997.
“Going into that match, my mindset was that I could take her down, although I was a little bit nervous because she is so highly ranked and she’s the Australian Open defending champ,” Gadecki said.
“I know a lot of people were telling me how she was a bit down and I really tried to take advantage of that. There was stuff that my coach gave me game-plan wise, but I just knew if I just stayed tough and competed to the very end and gave it my very all, I thought I’d have a chance.”
A long-time tennis prodigy, Gadecki was once the topranked 12-year-old in Australia.
She continued to work hard on her game, before becoming tired of the long hours training and giving it away to focus on her Year 12 schooling last year.
“I was still playing a little tennis, but I didn’t love it during those times,” the 18-yearold said.
“But once I finished (school), that’s when I knew I actually loved the sport and I really wanted to do it.”
Gadecki did a pre-season training with fellow Queenslander Ash Barty leading up to the Australian Open and credits the world No. 1 with helping her make giant strides with her game.
Barty was in the stands at Melbourne Park watching as Gadecki upset Kenin on Sunday
and caught up with the over-the-moon winner in the corridors at Melbourne Park after the match.
“She actually came out after my match in the hallway and gave me a big hug and said how proud of me she was, which was really, really nice,” Gadecki said.
“It was probably one of the best moments, I think, just knowing that you have someone so highly-ranked in your corner that you can just go to whenever you need.
“I’m super grateful for all her time and effort that she’s put into my growth.”