John Millman officially bids farewell to tennis after loss in Australian Open doubles

Australian fan favourite John Millman has received a standing ovation from the crowd and a present from tournament boss Craig Tiley after playing his final match at the Australian Open on Friday night.

After failing to qualify in the singles tournament, Millman teamed up with compatriot Edward Winter in the doubles.

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They won their first-round match, but crashed to a 6-2 6-4 loss to second seed Matt Ebden and Rohan Bopanna.

Millman, 34, officially said his final goodbye to fans after the loss and then delighted the crowd with a classy farewell speech.

“I’m happy, I’m content. I’m actually pretty proud that a lot of people stuck around,” he said.

“Doubles isn’t my strength and I think we got a bit of a masterclass from Matty and Bopes there … but I’m really just proud of Eddie and I think this is a sign of welcoming the next generation through and I think Eddie is definitely part of that.

“I encourage you in the next few years, let’s get behind our young Aussies like Eddie.

“And just show these young Australians the love and support that you’ve shown me in my career.”

Millman retires having reached a career-best ranking of No.33 with one ATP title and one grand slam quarter-final — the 2018 US Open where he upset Roger Federer in the fourth round — to his name.

He went tantalisingly close to repeating the feat at the 2020 Australian Open, losing in five sets after leading Federer 8-4 in the deciding super-tiebreaker.

Despite beating Federer at a grand slam, Millman said the highlight of his career was winning matches at the Australian Open.

Tiley also personally thanked Millman on behalf of the tournament and presented the now retired hero with a bottle of champagne and another present.

Meanwhile, reigning Australian men’s doubles champions Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata are still searching for a nickname after cruising through the first round of their title defence.

Australians may be tumbling out of the singles but hopes of a third-straight local men’s doubles title remained well and truly alive at Melbourne Park on Friday.

Hijikata and Kubler had a comfortable first-round win, downing fellow countryman Chris O’Connell and his Serbian partner Laslo Djere 6-2 6-4.

Wildcards in last year’s draw, Hijikata and Kubler secured a memorable first grand slam title when they accounted for Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the 2023 final.

That triumph followed on from the unlikely doubles title won by Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis in 2022 – the same year Ash Barty famously became the first Australian since 1978 to win a singles title at a home grand slam.

Hijikata and Kubler will meet unseeded German pair Yannick Hanfmann and Dominki Koepker in the second round and joked that despite their success as a pair they are yet to follow in the footsteps of Bennifer (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) or most recently Traylor (Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift).

“We haven’t really won that many matches anyway,” Kubler said of their search for a nickname.

“The momentum is not really there. Maybe we can win a few more matches here and then maybe we can kick-start that again.”

Other Australian pairs to advance in the men’s doubles include Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, who both suffered gut-wrenching five-set second-round singles defeats.

They booked a 6-2 7-6 (10-8) win over Austrians Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler.

Hijikata said Purcell and Thompson were major threats.

“I think they could be the third straight Aussie pair to win the tournament, if I’m honest,” he said.

“I got to play with Max (Purcell) in Tokyo, and I’ve seen Thommo (Thompson) play a ton and they’re both unbelievable doubles players – both have really good serves so I think they’re going to be pretty tough to beat.”

West Australian Ebden is the top seed in the mixed doubles where he is teaming up with Storm Hunter, hoping to add to his 2013 Australian Open title won with Jarmila Wolfe (nee Gajdosova).

In round one of the mixed doubles Australian pairing Arina Rodionova and Purcell bowed out as did youngsters Maya Joint and Dane Sweeny and Priscilla Hon and Adam Walton.

Jaimee Fourlis and Andrew Harris had success, moving through to the second round.

Kimberly Birrell and Olivia Gadecki were unable to carry home hopes beyond the opening round of the women’s doubles while Taylah Preston and Rodionova and singles stars Daria Saville and Ajla Tomlijanovic were also casualties.

– With AAP