Why an Australian tennis odd couple share their coach

Jordan Thompson and Chris O’Connell – two of the country’s 14-strong Wimbledon contingent – have thrived since turning their almost lifelong friendship forged playing as kids in Sydney into a working arrangement.Getty Images for LTA

“Chris and I have been good mates since we were like seven, so sharing a coach is easy for us,” Thompson told this masthead. There was also the time he deliberately knocked over the famously superstitious Rafael Nadal’s water bottles at a change of ends in an attempt to rattle him mid-match.“He’s a showman,” Matosevic said of Kyrgios, who also speaks highly of him. “When he’s playing, he doesn’t want to just win – he wants to entertain the masses, and I think he seems to play his best that way ... kind of similar to me; wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Thompson lost that second-round match in straight sets, but was highly competitive and his net-rushing gave Djokovic fits during the contest. “Marinko does a good job of keeping it separate. Jordan’s on court right now, so he’s solely focused on Jordan, but as soon as Jordan walks off the court, he’s focused on me,” O’Connell said.

What appealed to both Thompson and O’Connell about Matosevic was how he eked every last drop out of himself as a player and persisted to the point he achieved his best results in his late 20s.

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