Every year, new stars emerge at the Australian Open. Take the example of the 1984 edition of the tournament. Martina Navratilova, the then World Number 1, was on an amazing winning streak and looked unbeatable. However, Amanda Coetzer caused one of the biggest upsets ever, defeating Navratilova in the semifinal. The 2025 edition is turning out to be no different, and we have a local star in the form of Aleksander Vukic, who is making huge waves at the ongoing Australian Open.

The 28-year-old had never been into the third round of his home Grand Slam tournament before. Yesterday, he upset the 22nd seed, Sebastian Korda in the second round to achieve his best result at the tournament. Vukic was born in Sydney and took to tennis at a young age.

He began his tennis career through the US college system. Vukic represented the University of Illinois from 2015 to 2018 and was named All-American on three occasions due to his exploits on the court. After passing out from college, Vukic made his ATP debut at the age of 22 when he qualified for the Sydney International. Later, Vukic combined his time on the ATP Tour with the ATP Challenger Tour and made his Grand Slam debut at the 2020 French Open after entering the main draw as a qualifier. His progress continued and he achieved his career-best ranking of 48 back in 2023. Currently, he is ranked 68th on the ATP rankings chart.

Apart from his singles commitments, Vukic is also participating in doubles competition at the Australian Open. Earlier today, he teamed up with James Duckworth to defeat the former Australian Open champions, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis. Meanwhile, on the singles front, it was Vukic’s biggest win of his career against Korda. After the match, he shared his true feelings of triumphing in front of his home crowd.

Aleksander Vukic describes his ‘freezing’ Australian Open moment

In a match lasting nearly three and a half hours on the Kia Arena, Vukic got the better of Korda in five sets 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. It’s the first time that he has made it to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. Vukic couldn’t control his emotions after the biggest win of his career and described the chilling moment.

During the post-match interview, he said, “This was the most Melbourne day I’ve ever experienced in my life, I’m bloody freezing. That second set, when we went off, I thought that was maybe it for tonight. I’ve had a few good wins but that one in a grand slam, in a five-setter, is really nice. It’s so good to win in five sets. It’d be nice to win in three but winning in five in Australia — I’m tired but I’m pretty awake as well. So I’ll take it.”

Further in the third round, Vukic will face another seeded player, Jack Draper who is the 15th seed in the tournament and has already beaten the local boy Thanasi Kokkinakis. Vukic and Draper haven’t faced each other before and it promises to be another thrilling encounter on the Margaret Court Arena tomorrow. Who are you backing to win? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.