The 2015 Australian Open brought attention to many young pro players who had not made deep runs in previous grand slams or who were playing in the main draw of a major tournament for the first time. After watching their performances in Melbourne, we’re excited to see how these six players players fare during the rest of the professional tennis season.
Madison Keys
Age: 19
Hometown: Boca Raton, Florida
World ranking: 20
Australian Open result: Upset top seeds Petra Kvitova, Casey Dellacqua and Venus Williams; lost in quarterfinals to Serena Williams, pushing the first set to a tiebreaker
Nick Kyrgios
Age: 19
Hometown: Canberra, Australia
World ranking: 35
Australian Open result: Quarterfinalist who lost to Andy Murray; upset seeded Ivo Karlovic in second round
Madison Brengle
Age: 24
Hometown: Dover, Delaware
World ranking: 46
Australian Open result: Upset 13th seed Andrea Petkovic in the first round; lost in round of 16
Bernard Tomic
Age: 22
Hometown: Monte-Carlo, Monaco
World ranking: 48
Australian Open result: Defeated world no. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round; advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing to Tomas Berdych
Denisa Allertova
Age: 21
Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic
World ranking: 91
Australian Open result: Won three qualifying rounds and one main-draw round before losing to 19th seed Alize Cornet in three sets
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Age: 18
Hometown: Adelaide, Australia
World ranking: 143
Australian Open result: Upset 11th seed Ernests Gulbis in first round; lost second round in five sets to top-100 player Sam Groth
