[Audacity]

Good stuff.

[Givenchy]

John will play Stepanek in the first round of Brisbane.

[Audacity]

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/stories/...rt&section=all

Wildcard Millman feeling right at home

It is a daunting prospect - taking on the defending champion in the opening round of your first ATP event - but hometown wildcard John Millman says he is not lost among the big names at this week's Brisbane International.

The 20-year-old from Carindale, only 20 minutes' drive from the Queensland Tennis Centre, will likely take to Pat Rafter Arena on Sunday or Monday against second seed Radek Stepanek.

It will be Millman's first foray on the professional tour, after earning a wildcard into main draw following his run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open wildcard play-offs and impressive recent results on the Futures circuit this summer.

If his wildcard came as a surprise, Millman had to take a seat when he realised he would be facing the world number 12.

"I was having lunch with [fellow Australian] Peter Luczak after we had a hit, when he got an SMS saying he had drawn Andy Roddick," Millman said.

"I walked downstairs and then I got a message saying I got Stepanek.

"We both got the number one and two seeds!"

Nevertheless, Millman says he has nothing to lose and will not be holding back against the reputably feisty Czech.

"He is the defending champion, he beat some really good players to do that like Verdasco, Gasquet and Llodra," he said.

"He is crafty, he is one of those difficult players because he chops it and dinks it and that game isn't seen so much.

"This is uncharted waters for me... you have to control the things you can control.

"For me, you might not be striking the ball so well but the one thing you can control is how you can compete and I'm going to leave nothing on the court."

Millman, who has improved his world ranking to 307 after great results on the recent Tennis Australia Pro Circuit Tour, says he has bounced back from his gutting 6-7 (7-2), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) semi-final loss to eventual winner Nick Lindahl at the Australian Open play-offs.

"They are the best ones to win, but the worst ones to lose," he said.

"But when there is lows there are highs.

"A couple of weeks later I got the call based on that performance and that tournament."

Home sweet home

Like many aspiring players, Millman has taken the long road to get where he is with the lower tier Futures circuit taking him to far flung places such as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia.

It is therefore not lost on the local up-and-comer that his big break comes in his own backyard amongst the likes of Roddick, Monfils, Blake and Berdych.

"Being a Brisbane boy this is my slam. This is the biggest tournament for me to date and I wouldn't want to be playing anywhere else," he said.

"I love Brisbane and I can't wait to play in front of my family and friends and hopefully a vocal home crowd."

Unfortunately Millman's parents Ron and Shona, who own and run a tennis centre in Carindale, are holidaying in Europe and will miss their son's unexpected debut.

"They are in Vienna at the moment," he said.

"Dad more so would be spewing because he loves it but I don't think Mum would have watched to be honest.

"She gets too nervous."

But it is the home comfort Millman says will keep the butterflies at bay on the big stage.

"The first couple of days you are excited and nervous all at once," he said.

"But being out there and training with some of the players, you start to feel like you belong a little bit more. The confidence comes with that.

"The courts at Tennyson are familiar to me... I've hit out there for the last year on and off.

"Now that I'm used to those players out there, hopefully I can make that change to the new level and play some good tennis."

[Action Jackson]

Good article and he has a great attitude, just hope he can do well.

[Audacity]

John went down to Stepanek 6-4 6-0.

[Action Jackson]

Thunder Lips too tricky and Johnny will have learned a lot from the experience and will know now what he needs to do to reach the next level.

He had game point at *4-5 and served a double, then not long after that Steps takes the set and runs away with it.

[save ausdecline]

it feels dissapointing but it was expected

[Audacity]

John has high aspirations for himself. He doesn't want to be a guy hanging around the rank 200 mark his whole career. I just hope he keeps improving his game and I have every bit of faith he can reach his goal of the top 100.

[Action Jackson]

He is a smart guy and it's all part of the building block. He knows he has to get stronger and the fact he fights hard are all to his benefit.

[Action Jackson]

[davidrafael]

An interesting story on John....


From the Brisbane Times:


Top 100 or bust: Millman
CHRIS BARRETT
December 30, 2009

Great expectations ... Brisbane International wildcard John Millman. Photo: Supplied

The long-time mentor of Patrick Rafter believes his latest charge, Brisbane International wildcard John Millman, has the talent to match the former world number one and dual US Open champion.

Amid the names Roddick, Baghdatis, Clijsters and Henin strutting their stuff at Tennyson next week, the 20-year-old Millman gives crowds a hometown hope to support.

The former Churchie student lives at Carindale, just a relatively short drive from the Queensland Tennis Centre, and will take his place in an ATP main draw field for the first time at the Brisbane International.

He won't be there simply to provide hitting practice.

Millman's coach Gary Stickler, who steered Rafter through the formative stages of his celebrated career and also coached former top-50 Queenslander Scott Draper for two years, says the highly driven baseliner is more than capable of springing a major upset.

"One of John's great qualities is he always goes on court believing he can beat someone," Stickler told brisbanetimes.com.au.

"He doesn't go into the tournament just to make up the numbers. He goes in to show the highly ranked guys he's as good as they are."

Stickler believes Millman, who has improved his world singles ranking from about 1700 to his current position of 307 in the past two years despite serious shoulder and stomach injuries, has the ability and drive of any of his previous players - Rafter included.

"I've worked with a number of good athletes. I worked with Pat Rafter for a number of years and John's the equal of any I've worked with in an athletic and potential sense as well," Stickler said.

"He won't stay in the sport to be someone who's going to be around [world number] 200. His aspirations are to be a top-100 player by this time next year."

Such is Millman's determination not to settle for a long-term life in the caravan-dwelling, eat-when-you-can world of lower-tier tennis, which breezes in and out of such destinations as Almaty, Kazakhstan and Banja Luka, Bosnia, he has set himself a deadline of sorts.

If his ranking doesn't continue to march forward, he will quit the game and go and study commerce/law, probably at the University of Queensland, where some of his schools friends are already nearing graduation.

As a result Millman has resolved to next year to play only on the second-tier Challenger circuit, the level just beneath the ATP Tour, and not the lower Futures tournaments where he has experienced increasing success.

"I just don't want to mark time," said Millman, who lists the Croatian Mario Ancic as his tennis idol on the Tennis Australia site because he studied for a law degree while touring as a professional.

"I've given myself a pretty small time frame to succeed but I think that's good in a way because it's really encouraged me to get the results.

"You judge how you're going at the end of each year. The way I look at it is if my ranking continues to improve then I keep going.

"That's why next year I'm going to be just playing the Challenger tournaments. I could comfortably just play Futures all year and keep my ranking at about 200-300 but that's not the player I want to be so I've put a bit of pressure on myself.

"It's going to be tough - the quality of player is a lot better but by the end of next year if I've done well I'll be hopefully pushing into the 100s."

The quality of opponent will be of an even higher calibre next week when he lines up in the Brisbane International courtesy of a wildcard from tournament organisers.

Suddenly the man on the other side of net could be Andy Roddick, Marcos Baghdatis, James Blake or Gael Monfils. He will find out on Saturday when the draw is made and will "take who I get".

"Obviously everyone at this level can play some good tennis so it's going to be tough but hopefully I can compete hard," he said.

"Hopefully my ranking shoots up and I can play some more of these tournaments."

[Action Jackson]

He has the ambition, just hope the body doesn't let him down and I will be at the qualies to watch his matches.

[Hewitt10]

I dont know much about this guy but his results in future tournaments arent bad i would of thought he would of done alot worst against stepanek but he did very very well in the first set but he just couldnt match the skill of stepanek in the first set but i hope he gets the last wildcard but it will go to ebden becasuse he beat Melzer then did really well against Gasquet.

John Millman would really benefit from a wildcard to the main draw even if he didn't get a win but it would be tight between them ebden and himself, the only other player that could get in would be maybe matosevic but i doubt because he lost to Ebden in the Brissie Qualies. But if John is going to have a great year this year then he has got to do well in burnie and melbourne good luck to him.

And if Hewitt dosent play at the hopman cup next year then he should to get in good practice for the aus open cause his definent of 3 matches he should team up with someone like holland, wejnert, peers or moore one of the young girls it would be good for Australia.

[Action Jackson]

Millman isn't ready for the last wildcard and Edben deserves it at the moment. Matosevic is coming back from back problems.

He is in the qualies for Melbourne and that is good enough for now.

[jmf07]

Did John skip Sydney or was he waiting on a wildcard that never arrived?