AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2026

Storm Hunter

Press Conference

S. HUNTER/J. Bouzas Maneiro

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Storm, great momentum obviously qualifying. How did you keep that momentum going into this first round?

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, it was kind of an interesting one, because I had a few days to, first of all, enjoy qualifying. That doesn't happen every day, so yeah, was really happy I could have Friday off to just enjoy, reset, and then had Saturday, Sunday to train.

In a way, it kind of felt like a new tournament, which was nice because I could kind of reset and refocus.

Yeah, today was tough. I didn't start my best, so I really had to kind of fight my way through that early stages of the first set, and yeah, again, just try to enjoy being on Kia Arena playing in front of the home fans. The stadium was packed. Yeah, really tried to enjoy it. Yeah, I can't believe I'm here after winning that match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Straight afterwards you said in the on-court interview, you said, Oh, my gosh, I don't know what to say, I'm so full of joy. Tell us a bit more about that, like, all the emotion you obviously felt and why and what that win meant to you.

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, it means, yeah, means everything to be winning singles matches here in Melbourne. I feel like I have had a very up-and-down career, a lot of injuries in my career from when I was 18.

You know, when I made the third round in 2024, I finally felt like that was my time. I was sitting at career-high ranking, really thought I was going to crack the top 100. Then obviously with my Achilles, that was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever gone through in my life, missing Olympics, missing the chance.

To come back from an Achilles rupture, I don't know anyone who has done it in tennis. We didn't have any, I guess, plans, return-to-play plans to go through, so it was kind of a let's see how we go.

I'm really lucky that I had really good people around me to help me with my rehab to get back. Even when I did come back, I definitely felt like I was not at the level that I was at previously, and that took me six months to kind of feel like, okay, let's try and get better on a singles court.

I really truly didn't think I'd be able to be moving how I'm moving in these matches here in Melbourne, and that's why I felt so much joy, because, you know, you don't know when you're going to get the chance to play on these courts again in front of big crowds.

Like I said, obviously you want to win, but I was really happy that, win or lose, I wanted to put on a good show and enjoy being part of the crowd and giving them something to cheer about and, yeah, to entertain them as well.

Same in my final round of quallies against Taylor, such a high-quality match. Again, I was not thinking about the result at all. I was just wanting to play good tennis, enjoy being out there, and enjoy playing in front of people, because I spent, like, a year here, you know, out on Court 6 with no one watching, on my scooter, hitting balls, you know, literally limping around the court.

Now to be able to be playing good tennis, yeah, that's what I worked so hard for to come back to.

Q. During that injury, rehab, comeback, how did you maintain motivation? What was behind refusing to give up?

STORM HUNTER: I definitely felt like I had unfinished business. That was probably the biggest thing. I felt like I hadn't achieved what I thought I really could achieve in my tennis career.

I just wanted to get back. That was, for me, the biggest thing. To be honest, the motivation during rehab wasn't an issue at all. I really felt every day I had good people around me. I was excited to go to the gym and see people.

You know, my team kept it interesting for me. We would be doing lots of different drills, different exercises. It was really tough, but I definitely felt like the motivation wasn't an issue. It probably was more when I came back. I finally felt like I worked so hard to come back, and when I came back, my level was not there. It was a bit of a shock to the system, to be honest.

The first few months last year trying to play, and I felt like I wasn't playing at a good level, and that was the probably the hardest part for me. The motivation then coming back was, okay, I don't know if I can really do this, if I don't have the level, am I going to be able to play how I used to?

Yeah, I had had a lot of question marks on myself, to be honest. Especially around more my singles results, I guess. I know I still had protected rankings, but I was just, like, let's just see, use them, see.

Yeah, I feel really happy I'm not at that mental space now, that I actually feel like I'm moving well and I'm competing really well and I'm playing really well. I kind of feel like I did in early stages of 2024, which, yeah, was a really nice feeling.

Q. You talk about that early stages of 2024 when you were on the big breakthrough. How close to that do you think you are? When you decided to start back and play some of the ITFs last year, how do you make that decision? Who do you go through when you are thinking, I'm not quite right here?

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, I spoke a lot with Pratty, my coach, who has been in my corner for a long time. She's very honest with me. She will tell me if she thinks it's time to give up the singles.

I told her how I was feeling, and she's, like, Mate, you have to not be so hard on yourself, you haven't played that much. We also haven't been doing that much training. I had two months out Wimbledon last year with a rib injury.

Even though my Achilles was feeling good, the rest of my body was getting used to traveling and playing. So we never really had much time to play and train for singles.

Those ITFs at the back end of the year, I made semifinal, lost second round, but I actually got to play some singles matches. I felt every match I was getting better and better, so that was really positive. My body also felt like it was pulling up well.

So that gave me probably, yeah, a little bit more clarity. But also, playing doubles with Kat Siniaková in Wuhan when we won the title in October, that also gave me a lot of confidence just on my tennis game, that I've still got it. I had a really good partner. She helped.

That just gave me a lot of confidence mentally, and then playing the ITFs gave me the confidence physically for singles. Combining that with, I guess, three or four weeks of really good training here in Melbourne, singles-focused, body felt really good, so we were able to really push the limits with my training.

Obviously then the wedding that was mentioned in the newspaper the other day, you know, with the good vibes with the girls. But, yeah, I think also got lucky playing a match at United Cup, too. Obviously, Maya and Maddy went well.

Again, that kind of was for me playing for Australia, I have always enjoyed playing with the green and gold. It just gave me that, again, confidence to go out, play my game. Whatever happens, happens, and that really helped for quallies last week.

Yeah, I'm just kind of riding the wave, and, you know, this is amazing, but also the year is so long that I know there is still a lot of matches to be played this year. But, yeah, just enjoying been playing good tennis, moving well, and body feeling good.

Q. You mentioned there aren't many examples of tennis players who have come back from an Achilles rupture. Are there any that you have spoken to that you were able to get some direction from? I suppose there is a bit of a guinea pig on the tennis tour trying to come back from this injury. What's it been like getting the recovery right?

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, we didn't speak to anyone in tennis who had done their Achilles. I was really lucky. A good friend of mine had done it, Anabelle Smith, who is a diver.

So I spent a lot of time catching up with her, who she did it and returned to the Olympics in diving. Obviously very different sports, different requirements with the Achilles, but my team did a lot of research. We actually used the VIS, who a few of their staff specialize in. They had a lot of athletes go through Achilles ruptures.

So early stages with the injury, we went through them, and they guided us with the early-stage rehab. Yeah, it was a little bit we kind of had to make the plans ourselves, to be honest, with Pratty, my coach, Aaron, my strength and conditioning trainer. A lot of meetings trying to get the return to play right.

We used a lot of data from my matches pre-injury, about what the requirements are with speed, distance covered. Then we kind of mapped out a return-to-play plan.

So, yeah, it was a little bit of a test. Obviously going by my feedback too how I'm feeling, how I'm pulling up from sessions. In a way, I also was motivated by the fact that no one had done it in tennis, and I wanted to prove that you, yeah, could come back.

You know, along those type of injuries, really tough ACLs, Achilles ruptures. But, yeah, I wanted to test the waters and see how far I could go.

There is a lot of examples in basketball and football, but it's very different because they can control how much time they're spending on the field or the court and can pull them off whenever. Obviously in tennis you need to be ready to go for three hours. You need to be strong, powerful, but then fast, be able to move out of the corners.

Yeah, it's tough, but my team, I had so much confidence in them from the beginning. We are very lucky we had the access to a lot of research and good people that helped me get back.

Q. I was sitting in the crowd, and the noise was pretty amazing from where I was sitting. For you being on the court, if you could talk about that atmosphere and when you were down, the way they lifted in the second set?

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, it was super loud. I was kind of surprised actually for a first match at 11:00. I was, like, usually they come a little bit later, but when I walked out there, it was full. They were super loud, and they really helped me get over the line. I think the home crowd support definitely helps a lot.

Obviously I was down 3-Love in the first, 4-1 in the second. I knew I had to get them involved a little bit just to raise the energy and to help me. And, yeah, honestly it's amazing. I don't think we have that on tour anywhere else other than here in Australia, the home support, how loud they get and how behind they get behind the local players.

Yeah, it was so much fun. I was just really grateful to play out there. And, you know, even 3-Love down, I'm walking on the Melbourne sign, and I'm, like, okay, this is my hometown. I've got a lift for them. I'm, like, this is Kia Arena. I have won all my matches on here for a while, so I can't lose today. I can't let everyone down.

Yeah, they were incredible. It was hot out there, actually. The sun was pretty baking, not much wind. So it kind of feels like it's baking in there. I was, like, everyone's got to leave because it's hot, and I don't want them to sit there and be getting burned.

Yeah, they were awesome today. Really grateful. I mean, 100,000 through the gates yesterday is unbelievable. It's crazy how much this event has changed and how big it's gotten.

Yeah, I don't know what the record is going to be today, but yeah, as an Australian player, I'm very proud of what the Australian Open has done. To be someone who has been able to play on these courts and experience that, I'm very lucky.

Q. You mentioned on court about you were unsure if you were going to be able to get back to this level. Can you speak about the doubts you might have had throughout your rehabilitation process?

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, definitely, you know, I started playing doubles first when I came back from my Achilles and gave myself a few months on the doubles court. Less load, less moving than singles.

A few months later started my singles. It was a bit of a shock to the system of how far behind I felt with my movement, with my power. Just felt like a completely different player to 2024.

Yeah, I had a lot of tears. My husband, yeah, he knew everything that was going through my mind. I really thought I was done. Like I said, my coach, Pratty, she's very honest with me, and she was like, No, we just got to give yourself more time. Just keep going, got to keep working.

Yeah, at times I literally thought it's over, I can't cover the court how I used to. It's kind of bad luck. My Achilles is not the same.

But I'm just really glad that I trusted my team and gave myself a chance, kept working hard and kept just trying to get better. Now I don't even have to think about my Achilles, which is really nice, actually. I don't even think about it, notice it on court.

I just go out there and play. I think that shows when you have a healthy body, and for me especially, that I can play at a really high level.

Yeah, so now we'll see. As long as my ranking keeps going up and I can get into singles events and play, my body feels good. I think for me, doubts are always going to come. I'm probably someone always my whole career never really believed in myself, to be honest. So I always kind of questioned am I good enough to be top 100. I have always had those doubts my whole career.

It's kind of nice to probably not have them at the moment (smiling) and just play kind of freely. Like I said, just enjoy being out there, and it's a really nice place to be in mentally.

Q. On the match itself, what were the tactical changes you made to your game, obviously being down 3-Love in the first, 4-1 in the second, and what was your mindset like in those moments?

STORM HUNTER: Yeah, I felt like even though I was 3-Love and 4-1, it was only one break. I wasn't serving well. I definitely had a pretty average serving day, to be honest.

I didn't feel like it was the pressure of her returning. It was just me not finding my rhythm on serve, and I kind of knew if I could get on top of the points, that I felt comfortable that I could hurt her.

She hits a really heavy ball. I actually commentated her matches last year when she played Sabalenka on Rod Laver. I've been following her. She's a quality player, hits a very good ball. I knew I could rush her with the pace of my shots.

So for me, I just felt like I had to really focus on my serve first and try and get, yeah, put pressure on with my serve, and then I can dictate the points out of that. I always back my returning game, so I knew that I would get a chance on the returns.

Usually I would say I would panic at 3-Love and 4-1, but I didn't feel today -- I was really great at just being like, it's okay, just focus on your serve first, and then you're going to get opportunities to break.

You know, I felt like she changed a bit of her tactics, too. She was using her backhand cross really well, but usually most players will go backhand line to try and spread me on my backhand, but she was going in back behind me.

I just sat there a little bit more and, yeah, tried not to give her too many of the same shots. That was the biggest thing. To get 4-1 down in the second, I just gave her a little bit of rhythm, and she was able to take control.

So I just had to go back to not giving her rhythm, try and control the points on my terms. Even if it went to a third, if I could just kind of get the momentum back, I was happy with that.

Yeah, kind of got lucky that it didn't go to a third, and I was able to win it in straight.