Australian Open: Now official - Dominic Thiem cannot make the cut-off for the time being
The ATP has now published the official entry list for the Australian Open 2023 - so Dominic Thiem is only seventh on the list of alternates.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Dec 07, 2022, 11:48 am
As of December 5th, the ATP published the official entry list for the Australian Open 2023, and the fears we only reported on yesterday are now formally cast in bits and bytes. Dominic Thiem is currently 105th in the world rankings. well outside of the players who are qualified for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
As with any conventional tournament, all players who registered for the respective event but did not make the current cut-off are listed as alternates. The cut-off for the Australian Open 2023 is currently ranking position 99. Nuno Borges from Portugal can look forward to the last fixed place "down under" - also due to the cancellation of Frenchman Gael Monfils. Thiem, on the other hand, is only in seventh place among the so-called alternatives.
Alternates and Protected Rankings - it's complicated
But wait a minute: 105 minus 99 still equals six and not seven, even for people with poor arithmetic skills, such as the author of these lines. How come? Because there are two players who are on the ATP list with 101st place in the world rankings. The Chinese Zhizhen Zhang currently holds this position. And in addition, the Hungarian Attila Balazs would have the opportunity to use a "protected ranking", which is also saved with rank 101. However, it is questionable whether the 34-year-old from Budapest will also use it.
In addition to the players already mentioned, Vasek Pospisil (Canada), Alejandro Tabilo (Chile), Pavel Kotov (Russia) and Marco Cecchinato (Italy) are in front of the Austrian. So it remains exciting whether Austria's number one will be the only directly qualified domestic player for the "Happy Slam".