Australian Open: Dennis Novak cancels for qualification and hopes for the main field
Dennis Novak does not yet feel fit enough after his corona illness to qualify for the Australian Open. However, the 28-year-old has not given up hope for the main field.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit:
Jan 05, 2022, 07:46 pm
In the midst of the hustle and bustle around Novak Djokovic , the news suddenly appeared on Wednesday afternoon that Novak would not participate in the qualification for the Australian Open 2022. Of course, he didn't mean the 20-time Grand Slam winner, but the Austrian number two Dennis Novak .
The 28-year-old confirmed the waiver of qualification to tennisnet.com. After his corona illness, he does not feel fit enough to be back on the match court in the coming week. "I'm just very relaxed in training at the moment. I'm taking it slow because I felt a little something," said the Lower Austrian.
Novak needs four rejections, Kohlschreiber one
However, Novak has not yet completely written off participation in the Australian Open: If there were four more cancellations, he would be directly in the main field. "If I slip in on time and can still prepare intelligently, I'll definitely give it a try," said Novak. He has not set a specific deadline for a departure, which he would take alone in the worst-case scenario. But: "I will know by Sunday or Monday at the latest."
As an alternative program to the Australian Open, Novak would complete the Challenger tournaments in Forli (Italy, January 17th to 23rd) and Quimper (France, January 24th to 30th).
The beneficiary of Novak's rejection of the qualification is the German Tobias Kamke, who thus has the chance to participate in the main draw in the first major event of the year. While the 35-year-old definitely has to win all of his three qualifying matches, Philipp Kohlschreiber can still hope for a direct jump into the main field: The Augsburg man only needs a rejection.
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