Howell out of Australian Open
Number 2 seed's exit causes shake-up of first round matches
Nick Howell has withdrawn from the Australian Open, causing a shake-up of the first round matches a week out from the start of main draw matches.
The world number 3’s participation always carried a question mark as he is due to be married a day prior to the start of the tournament in Melbourne. As such, he had not entered the doubles draw with his singles participation primarily a means to close the gap to world number 2 John Lumley, who is also not present. Howell’s absence also means he will not run up against his World Championship Eliminator opponent Ben Taylor-Matthews, as both had been on the same side of the draw.
Howell’s non-participation shunts causes a change in the seeding, meaning the pairings for several matches has now changed. Howell’s place as number 2 seed will now be filled by Ben Taylor-Matthews. Taylor-Matthews will play Will Flynn in the first round, which will be the young Brit’s biggest match of his career to date and his first against a seed at an Open. By the seedings, Taylor-Matthews now has a potential quarter final against Lewis Williams.
Taylor-Matthew’s place as the number 3 seed will now be filled by Chris Chapman, previously the fifth seed. Chapman switches from playing local prodigy Oliver Pridmore to Open debutant Lea Van Der Zwalmen, which on paper will be a more straight-forward match. However, by the seedings he will be potentially matched up against Kieran Booth in the quarter final which could be a fascinating encounter given the Australian amateur’s record against Chapman at the 2023 and 2024 Victorian Opens. The original fourth seed, Rob Fahey, does not see his match change as the third and fourth seeds were drawn in the original draw.
Chapman’s place as fifth seed will be filled by Pridmore, the next best unseeded player on handicap. The remaining 5-8 seeds (Lewis Williams, John Woods-Casey and Kieran Booth) are unchanged as seeds 5 through 8 were drawn. Pridmore’s position in the draw has not changed, as he was originally due to play Chapman in the original draw. He will now play his first round match against a qualifier - either Darcy Webster-Jones or Tony Blom. Both Webster-Jones and Blom are now guaranteed a place in the main draw as there are only two qualifiers left in competition following Webster-Jones’s defeat of Sammy Legg last Friday.
The competition will commence on Monday, January 6 and continue through to Tuesday, January 14 at the Hobart Real Tennis Club. Full details are available via the Hobart Real Tennis Club website, and you can stream every moment on the Hobart Real Tennis Club YouTube Channel.