Alex de Minaur and the Great Southern Hemisphere Bluff By “Gravedigger” Garcia, International Sports Correspondent SYDNEY—Somewhere between the 17th time-zone change and my third airline meal that tasted like laminated regret, I realized the planet has conspired to make us care deeply about a 5-foot-9 Australian who hits a yellow ball for a living. Alex…
**The Accidental Australian: How Rinky Hijikata Became the World’s Most Unlikely Tennis Diplomat** In the grand theater of professional tennis, where Russian oligarchs’ yachts jostle for dock space at Monte Carlo and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund whispers promises of unlimited prize money, Rinky Hijikata represents something refreshingly absurd: a 22-year-old Sydney-sider who still looks…
The Curious Case of Josh Giddey: When an Australian Kid Becomes a Geopolitical Basketball Somewhere between a flat white in Melbourne and a triple-shot cortado in Madrid, the NBA’s latest diplomatic incident dribbled into view. Josh Giddey—6-foot-8, passport stamped “Oz,” haircut suggesting he still cuts his own fringe—has become the league’s most improbable piece of…
