WOMEN’S DRAW
TONY BATTEN
MARIA SHARAPOVA offered no guarantees that she will be back at the Australian Open after a first-round defeat against Donna Vekic.
Ongoing shoulder problems limited Sharapova to a handful of tournaments last year and her ranking is projected to drop to world number 366 as a result of the 6-3 6-4 loss to the 19th-seeded Croatian.
“I was fortunate to get myself to be here and thankful to [tournament director] Craig [Tiley] and the team allowing me to be part of this event,” she said. “It’s tough for me to tell what’s going to happen in 12 months’ time.”
Sharapova led 4-1 in the second set only for Vekic to fight back and win five games in a row, with the Russian hitting 19 winners and making 31 unforced errors.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova continued her winning run after lifting the warm-up title in Brisbane with a 6-1 7-5 victory over France’s Kristina Mladenovic.
Wimbledon champion Simona Halep battled to a 7-6 (5) 6-1 victory over big-hitting American Jennifer Brady, fifth seed Elina Svitolina defeated Katie Boulter 6-4 7-5 while former Wimbledon and French Open winner Garbine Muguruza, who has been battling illness, recovered from losing the first set to love to Shelby Rogers to win 0-6 6-1 6-0.
Sixth seed Belinda Bencic was a 6-3 7-5 winner over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and there were also victories for Dayana Yastremska and Elena Rybakina.
SUSAN EGELSTAFF
IT is a journey few, including Jamie Gillan himself, could have predicted. As a kid growing up in the Scottish Highlands, the NFL seemed as foreign a land as he could imagine.
But these days, playing in front of crowds of 70,000 for the Cleveland Browns has become commonplace for Gillan.
The 22-year-old began his sporting life as a rugby player, which led to him losing interest.
It was purely through luck that he converted to American football. His friend saw him kick a ball and suggested he could get a scholarship for American football. A visit to his high school coach to demonstrate his skills ended in the team’s regular kicker being unceremoniously fired, with Gillan taking his spot.
He was then thrown in the deep end, and his he freely admits his first few games were something of a shock to the system.
“I didn’t know a single thing about American football,” he said. “I was sitting on the sidelines so bored thinking ‘What is going on?’. It was crazy, but I rolled with it, that’s the type of personality I have – if a door opens, I’ll go and try it out.”
It didn’t take Gillan long to catch the eye. He played in two All-Star games but going down the college route without a scholarship was almost unthinkable for the Scot – a tab of around $45,000 per year was out of the question and so a scholarship was his only possible route if he was to make it in the sport.
Another stroke of luck, where Arkansas Pine Bluff’s kicker de-committed leaving an opening for them to sign Gillan on a scholarship, was the Scot’s big break. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, but it was not an easy schedule.
“I didn’t realise how full-on it was going to be,” he said.
“We were training five days a week. Especially in the off season, we’re up at 4.30 in the morning doing 30 110-yard sprints, eight classes then two hours of lifting. Then I’d go afterwards and keep kicking because that’s what I was there for, and doing that every day.
“It’s a lot more full-on with sports so you’ve got to manage your time a lot better to stay on top of your grades. If you fail class in the States, they take you off the field and you lose your scholarship so you can’t fail classes. It was a really tough schedule but it was worth it.”
Gillon impressed during his high-school days, but went undrafted in the 2019 draft, which for some, would have been a devastating blow. Not for Gillan though.
“I didn’t get drafted and people were saying ‘I’m so sorry’ and I’m like ‘I’m not bothered at all!’.
“I didn’t expect to get drafted, I’m not a big-name guy.”
However, once the draft was over, Gillan signed for Cleveland Browns but with the experienced and much-respected Britton Colquitt Cleveland’s regular punter, opportunities looked unlikely for the Scot.
He has since displaced former Superbowl winner Colquitt as the team’s first-choice kicker and was one of the stand-out performers. And with Gillan still learning his trade, it seems his best is yet to come.