Christopher O'Connell (born 3 June 1994) is an Australian professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
player. He grew up on the
Northern Beaches of Sydney. O'Connell reached a career high
ATP
ATP may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* Association of Tennis Professionals, men's professional tennis governing body
* American Technical Publishers, employee-owned publishing company
* ', a Danish pension
* Armenia Tree Project, non ...
singles ranking of World No. 78 on 28 November 2022 and a doubles ranking of No. 460 on 25 April 2022. He made his
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organisa ...
debut in January 2017 in his hometown at the
Sydney International.
Career
2011–16: Professional career beginnings
O'Connell played his first
ITF Men's Circuit
The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...
match in October 2011, where he defeated Robert Howe in the Australia F8 before being defeated in the second round. O'Connell ended 2011 with a ranking of 1745. In 2012, O'Connell lost in the first round of qualifying for the
Caloundra Challenger while attending the
Australian Institute of Sport
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...
on a tennis scholarship. He played two more
ITF tournaments in Asia before having an 22-month hiatus from professional tennis.
In 2014, O'Connell was given a wild card into the qualifying rounds of the
2014 McDonald's Burnie International, where he qualified and made the quarter-final. He then played a series of
ITF tournaments across Australia before travelling to Europe. In June 2014, he played in and won his first
ITF Men's Circuit
The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...
final in Bol, Croatia. He returned to Australia and played in the
Latrobe City Traralgon ATP Challenger
The Traralgon International (formerly known as Traralgon Challenger) is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Chall ...
. He ended 2014 with a ranking of 487. In 2015, O'Connell played sporadically on the ITF and Challenger circuits across Australia and Asia, without a title. His best result was a quarter-final result at
Gimcheon Challenger. Also in 2015, O'Connell worked in his hometown of Sydney, Australia to save money. He ended 2015 the year with a ranking of 567.
In 2016, O'Connell won five
ITF Futures
The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...
titles across Australia and Europe. In December 2016, O'Connell said; “I decided this year just to play a lot of matches. I think I've played over 80 matches this year and I've predominantly been in Europe - I was there for about seven months just playing week-in and week-out on the clay so I've got a lot match fitness and experience.” Massively improving his ranking in 2016, O'Connell finished the year ranked 237.
2017–18: Major & ATP debuts, injury struggles, severe drop in rankings
In January 2017, O'Connell made his
ATP World Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...
debut after qualifying for the
Sydney International in his hometown. He was defeated in the first round by Portugal's
Gastão Elias
Gastão José Ministro Elias (; born 24 November 1990) is a Portuguese professional tennis player, who competes on the ATP World Tour. He became the fifth Portuguese tennis player to break into the top 100 of the Association of Tennis Professio ...
. O'Connell then received a wildcard for the
2017 Australian Open
The 2017 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 16 and 29 January 2017. It was the 105th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of eve ...
where he lost his first round match in straight sets to (then) world number 15
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he fir ...
in his
Grand Slam debut.
O'Connell then competed in the
Burnie
Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. When founded in 1827, it was named Emu Bay, being renamed after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, in the early 1840s.
, Burnie had an urban pop ...
and
Launceston challengers, before competing on the
ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP ...
across Asia, Europe and North America with limited success. In October, O'Connell qualified for and reached the semi-final of the
Fairfield Challenger. O'Connell finished 2017 with a singles ranking of 393.
The 2018 season was interrupted by a knee injury for O'Connell
where he was only able to play 24 matches across the Futures, Challenger and ATP World Tours finishing the year with a singles ranking of 1185.
2019: Return from injury and first Challenger title
O'Connell began the year receiving wildcards into Qualifying for both the
2019 Brisbane International and
2019 Sydney International, losing to
Christian Garin and
Guido Andreozzi
Guido Andreozzi (; ; born 5 August 1991) is an Argentine professional tennis player of Italian descent. He competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures, both in singles and doubles. His career-high rankings are World No. 70 in sing ...
respectively.
After the controversial restructuring of the ITF/ATP points system and the launch of the
ITF World Tour, O'Connell returned to the Futures circuit to start his 2019 season. Playing on clay, he made consecutive finals in
Mornington before travelling to Europe to play in tournaments in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...
, winning titles in
Antalya
Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the Ae ...
and
Doboj
Doboj ( sr-cyrl, Добој, ) is a city located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of Bosna river, in the northern region of the Republika Srpska. As of 2013, it has a population of 71,441 ...
while improving his ATP Singles Ranking to 559 and his
ITF World Tour Singles Ranking to 52 by mid-May. “I had a fair bit of time off, so after coming back it takes longer to get into the swing of things,” O'Connell, said. “I finally feel like I'm starting to find a bit of form and get more comfortable on the court."
Reaching an
ITF World Tour singles ranking of 5 and leading the Tour in Finals made with 10, O'Connell returned to the
ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP ...
in July recording wins in
San Benedetto San Benedetto may refer to:
* Saint Benedict (c. 480-543/547), Italian saint
* Saint Benedict (disambiguation), a number of other Italian saints called San Benedetto (Saint Benedict)
Places of Italy
* San Benedetto Belbo, a municipality in the Pro ...
,
Sopot
Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest c ...
and
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...
, most notably defeating former world number 5
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters e ...
in straight sets in their second round clash at the
2019 BNP Paribas Sopot Open
The 2019 BNP Paribas Sopot Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It will be the 2nd edition of the tournament which is part of the 2019 ATP Challenger Tour. It will take place in Sopot, Poland between 29 July and 4 August ...
. Adjusting back to the
Challenger Tour quickly, O'Connell made a breakthrough at the
2019 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia in
Cordenons, Italy, claiming his first
Challenger Tour title with a straight sets victory over German Jeremy Jahn in the final. With his maiden title, O'Connell's
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organisa ...
ranking improved from 313 to 220 in men's singles. In September, O'Connell reached the final of
Sibiu Challenger, which saw his ranking inside the top 200 for the first time.
In October, O'Connell defeated American
Steve Johnson in straight sets to claim his second
Challenger
Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to:
Entertainment
Comics and manga
* Challenger (character), comic book character
* ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga
Film and TV
* ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...
title of the year to at the
2019 Fairfield Challenger in
Fairfield, California
Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately ...
. Speaking of O'Connell's performance, four time ATP champion and former world No. 21
Johnson
Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...
said: "I thought he played some of the best tennis of his life. Too good. And when that happens, you say ‘too good’ and move on." O'Connell then followed his title with a series of strong results on the
Challenger Tour, making semi-finals in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...
and
Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
& a final in
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...
where he was defeated by
Michael Mmoh in straight sets.
He finished 2019 with a singles ranking of 119, a career-high.
2020: First Grand Slam match win
In January, O'Connell reached the quarter final of the
2020 Bendigo Challenger
The 2020 Bendigo Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the first edition of the tournament which was a part of the 2020 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Bendigo, Australia between 12 and 18 January 2 ...
. O'Connell was awarded a wildcard into the
2020 Australian Open
The 2020 Australian Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, from 20 January to 2 February 2020. It was the 108th edition of the Australian Open, the 52nd in the Open Era, and the first Gran ...
, where he lost in four sets to 3rd seed
Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev (russian: Даниил Сергеевич Медведев; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 7 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and was ...
.
In February, O'Connell reached the semi-final of the
2020 Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummondville, before the COVID-19 shutdown.
Upon recommencement, O'Connell won his first grand slam match, defeating
Laslo Djere at the
2020 US Open. O'Connell finished 2020 with a singles rank of 120.
2021: First ATP quarterfinal
O'Connell commenced 2021 at the
2021 Great Ocean Road Open, where he reached the second round.
The following week having been awarded a third wildcard at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
, O'Connell achieved an upset first round victory against
Jan-Lennard Struff
Jan-Lennard Struff (; born 25 April 1990) is a German professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 29 in August 2020. In doubles, he achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 in October 2018. He has ...
before falling to Moldovan
Radu Albot
Radu Albot (born 11 November 1989) is a Moldovan professional tennis player. He is the first player from Moldova to win ATP singles (2019 Delray Beach Open) and doubles (2015 Istanbul Open) titles.
Albot has won 1 ATP World Tour singles titl ...
in the second round.
In his first participation in his career in the main draw at the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
as a wildcard, O'Connell lost in the first round to
Tommy Paul
Tommy Paul (4 March 1909 – 28 April 1991) was a world featherweight boxing champion from Buffalo, New York. He won the world featherweight championship in May 1932, defeating Johnny Pena in a boxing tournament in Detroit. He was inducted in ...
in a tight five sets match. In June, he also qualified for the first time in his career for the
Wimbledon main draw, where he lost in the first round to No. 13 seed Gael Monfils.
In July, O'Connell qualified for and won his fourth and fifth career ATP main draw matches at the
Atlanta Open. In Atlanta, O'Connell reached his first ATP quarterfinal and registered his first win over a top 30 player, defeating
Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (; ; born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 1 November 2021, and world No. 124 in doubles, achieved on 2 ...
in the second round. He would end up losing to
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
in the quarterfinals. Following the US Open, O'Connell reached the final of the
Saint-Tropez Challenger. O'Connell finished 2021 with a singles rank of 175.
2022: Australian Open third round in singles & doubles, top 100 debut
O'Connell was awarded a fourth wildcard into the
2022 Australian Open
The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...
. He defeated
Hugo Gaston
Hugo Gaston (; born 26 September 2000) is a French tennis player. His career high ATP rankings#Current ranking, ATP ranking in singles is world No. 58, which he achieved on 11 July 2022, and in doubles is world No. 220, which he achieved on 16 M ...
in the first round. He reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career defeating thirteenth seed
Diego Schwartzman
Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (, ; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has won four ATP singles titles and reached his career-high singles ranking of world 8 in October 2020. As a clay court specialist, his bes ...
in straight sets. He would lose to American
Maxime Cressy
Maxime Cressy (born May 8, 1997) is a French-American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 31 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on August 8, 2022. He has been ranked as high as wo ...
in the third round. As a result he returned to the top 150 at World No. 147 on 31 January 2022.
O'Connell qualified for
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, where he lost to
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...
in the first round, despite winning the first set.
O'Connell won his 12th challenger title in
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, entertain ...
, after
Zsombor Piros
Zsombor Piros (born 13 October 1999) is a Hungarian tennis player.
Piros has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 138, achieved on 10 October 2022. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 991, achieved on 8 August ...
retired in the final trailing 0–2 in the second set after O'Connell won the first. He also upset
Albert Ramos-Viñolas after qualifying for
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
before losing to 4th seed
Reilly Opelka
Reilly Opelka (born August 28, 1997) is an American professional tennis player. At 6 feet 11 inches tall, he is tied (with Ivo Karlović) for the tallest-ever ATP-ranked player, and can produce serves that measure over 140 mph. He has been ran ...
in the second round.
He received a second consecutive wildcard for the
2022 French Open
The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Ju ...
in May. He made his top 100 debut on 18 July 2022 following the
2022 Wimbledon Championships
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tier tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to ...
where he did not participate.
He reached his first ATP semifinal at the
2022 San Diego Open defeating eight seed
JJ Wolf
Jeffrey John "J. J." Wolf (born December 21, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 56 on 17 October 2022. Wolf played collegiately at Ohio State University.
Early years
Wol ...
and second seed
Jenson Brooksby
Jenson Tyler "J. T." Brooksby (born October 26, 2000) is an American professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 on 13 June 2022.
Collegiate career
Brooksby enrolled at Baylor University to play college ...
.
O'Connell finished 2022 with an ATP singles ranking of No. 79.
Personal
O'Connell is a supporter of English football club
Crystal Palace F.C.
Challenger and ITF/World Tennis Tour finals
Singles: 25 (13–12)
Doubles
Performance timelines
Singles
''Current through the
2022 Australian Open
The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...
''
Doubles
Record against top 10 players
O'Connell's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface. Only ATP Tour main draw matches are considered:
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnell, Chris
Australian male tennis players
1994 births
Living people
Tennis players from Sydney