Monday shall be an enormous day for J.J. Wolf, and never simply because he’ll compete within the fourth spherical on the Australian Open.
The Cincinnati native shall be waking up early to observe his hometown Cincinnati Bengals play within the NFL Playoffs towards the Buffalo Payments. The soccer sport begins at 7 a.m. in Melbourne.
“I’m going to should. There’s no approach I’m lacking that,” Wolf mentioned. “I’ve bought my jersey and all the pieces, so I’ll be rocking it.”
Wolf shall be carrying a Joe Burrow jersey, which his father bought him for Christmas. Bengals quarterback Burrow and Wolf each attended Ohio State College for 3 years.
However the American’s general focus shall be on his match towards countryman Ben Shelton. Each males are within the fourth spherical on their Australian Open essential draw debuts.
“It means the world,” Wolf mentioned. “I strive not to consider outcomes an excessive amount of, however whenever you put in quite a lot of arduous work and also you see some outcomes, it’s arduous to not let that soak in somewhat bit.”
This time final 12 months, Wolf was outdoors the Prime 200 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Together with his victory towards countryman Michael Mmoh within the third spherical, he’s No. 46 within the Pepperstone ATP Dwell Rankings.
“I truly didn’t know,” Wolf mentioned. “One among my pals texted me ‘Congratulations on Prime 50’, so I discovered that approach. However my finish objective wasn’t to be Prime 50, so it feels good in the interim, however it’s simply one other stepping stone.”
Wolf doesn’t have a particular objective in thoughts. As an alternative, he needs to see how good he could be. The 24-year-old is feeling effectively proper now in Melbourne.
“I feel [my confidence is] in a great spot. I’ve by no means been one among these gamers that’s so outwardly assured that it advantages them. I feel I might at all times use somewhat bit extra confidence. I feel I did much more dropping in tennis rising up than quite a lot of different gamers that made it to the professionals, simply from me not taking part in very a lot tennis till the center of highschool,” Wolf mentioned. “So I feel that at all times pondering you’re one of the best form of hasn’t been instilled in me.
“I’ve at all times form of been like a workman mentality in the direction of it. So I feel I’m beginning to construct somewhat bit extra confidence for certain.”
The American defined that he believes he hates dropping greater than he loves successful. One loss that stands out is from his freshman 12 months of highschool at Cincinnati Nation Day. He misplaced within the ultimate of the Ohio State Excessive Faculty State Match towards his teammate, Asher Hirsch. That ended up being his lone probability on the trophy as a result of he didn’t play highschool tennis after that.
However Wolf is making up for that now in Melbourne. He may not have confirmed himself one of the best highschool singles participant in Ohio, however he’s into the final 16 at one of many largest tournaments on this planet.