31 December 2022 | Tennis ACT

Rising women’s stars Olivia Gadecki and Talia Gibson have been awarded Wildcards into the P² Advisory Canberra International 2023.

Both players will use the tournament as a vital lead up before making their debuts at the Australian Open, after also being awarded a wildcard into the Grand Slam last week.

Gadecki  has had a stellar year after reaching three consecutive finals on the Australian Pro Tour and in June winning two rounds of qualifying to reach the main-draw at the WTA event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

18-year-old Gibson, who was named Junior Female Athlete of the Year at the recent Newcombe Medal Australian Tennis Awards, began 2022 well outside the top 1,000 but has soared to a high mark of world No.342.

Aussie player Astra Sharma also joins the women’s main-draw, with a current ranking of No.118.

In the men’s field Aussies Marc Polmans and Dane Sweeny secure main-draw wildcards.  Polmans and Sweeny are no strangers to Canberra.  Polmans has competed in multiple Canberra International tournaments, while Sweeny claimed back-to-back titles in recent UTR events at the Canberra Tennis Centre.  Rising Aussie James McCabe rounds out the trio of  Men’s main-draw wildcards.

One of Canberra’s most promising rising stars Charlie Camus has been awarded a wildcard into the Qualifying which kicks off new years day – Sunday 1 January. Camus has had an impressive year, kicking off his European campaign by playing qualifying at the French Open Juniors, following up with a swing of European tournaments. Charlie’s world junior ranking peaked at 70 in December 2022, and he currently sits in the top 10 globally for his age as well as possessing 6 ATP points.

Young-gun Hayden Jones also secured a wildcard into Qualifying.  Both Camus and Jones were selected by Lleyton Hewitt to be ‘orange boys’ and practice partners for the Australian Davis Cup team. Both players also represented Australia in the Junior Davis Cup 2022.

Fellow Aussies Tristan Schoolkate and Adam Walton round out the Qualifying Wildcards.

The P² Advisory Canberra International will see the women and men compete for a total prize pool of USD $190,000. The men will take to the court in the ATP Challenger 100 event, the highest Challenger event in the country. The women will compete in the ITF 60 event.

The P² Advisory Canberra International is made possible by support from local partners, businesses, Events ACT, ACT Government and Tennis Australia.

Fans are encouraged to come out and support local Charlie Camus and the other Aussies for Qualifying on Sunday 1 January.  Tickets to the P² Advisory Canberra International start from just $5, with kids going for free (excluding finals). For ticketing please visit: https://www.tennis.com.au/act/canberra-international-2023

 

Women’s wildcard main-draw

• Olivia Gadecki
• Astra Sharma
• Talia Gibson
• Petra Hule

Women’s wildcard qualifying

• Seone Mendez
• Alex Bozovic
• Kaylah McPhee
• Destanee Aiava

Men’s wildcard main-draw

• Marc Polmans
• James McCabe
• Dane Sweeny

Men’s wildcard qualifying

– Charlie Camus

– Hayden Jones

– Tristan Schoolkate

– Adam Walton

 

P² Advisory Canberra International fast facts

1. The P² Advisory Canberra International is the ACT and region’s premier international tennis event
2. The tournament will be held 1-7 January 2023 after a three-year hiatus due to bushfire activity and Covid-19
3. 80 local ballkids will volunteer their time over the week
4. 35 volunteers will join the events team
5. 50 local, interstate and international officials will work at the tournament
6. The players, officials and support teams will contribute to over 600 room nights
7. It is expected to see over 15,000 fans through the gates during the tournament
8. Former champions include Hubert Hurkacz (POL – career high #9); Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER – career high #16); Andreas Seppi (ITA – career high #18); Jordan Thompson (AUS – career high #43).   Former participants also include Grand Slam champions and finalists including Ash Barty (AUS – career high #1); Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE – career high #3); Jannik Sinner (ITA – career high #9) and Denis Shapovalov (CAN – career high #10) amongst many more top 100 players.