John Millman The People's Champion

The adventures of "The Mailman" John Millman at the US Open are over but what a fun ride it was. I can accurately state that no one expected Millman to make the quarter finals and be the last Aussie standing before the start of the event. For this reason among many it makes the achievement all the more noteworthy.



It is interesting to see someone's whose career that you have followed for a long time have a huge breakthrough moment, where it receives global coverage. Though to be fair beating Roger Federer even if he is well into the southern part of his career will do that. Sure, there'll be bandwagon jumpers and most of them will get off the train today, but the way Millman was humble in victory and gave a glimpse into his character will convert a few fans along the way which is not a bad thing.

Millman has an ongoing issue with his back, there were the shoulder surgeries, the groin surgery and the journey he has travelled. Here are a couple of pieces which give further background on the struggles of the Millman An Aussie Battler Come Good and Interview with John Millman


Here is a story from the Futures, the lowest level of the tour which only the diehards have an idea about.

What have been your experiences of playing on the Futures & Challenger Tour? Can you elaborate on the pizza story in Gimcheon?

It's normally the glamorous side people see on TV but the reality of it all is vastly different. The future and challenger tour can be a grind, testing conditions in testing places. Gimcheon was another one of those testing places. The majority of us had been in South Korea for four weeks and Gimcheon was the last stop. I had experienced hospitalisation earlier due to food poisoning as had others.

A lot of people were playing it safe in the last tournament, wanting to stay healthy. This meant Pizza Hut for dinner every night. They didn't deliver to the hotel though because it was too far away so we'd have to wait around the courts and get it delivered to the courts. I was with another Australian, Matt Barton. We'd finished our pizzas and were waiting for the last match to finish. Nima Roshnan and Michael McClune were in a dog fight doubles match. A few bad calls and Nima was fired up. They had won the first easy but the second was tight.

Nima's girlfriend had ordered pizzas for them, hoping they'd arrive when they finished so they would be able to eat that night. Michael was serving to stay in the second set at 30-40 5-6. You could hear the motorized scooter from ages away. It arrived but instead of the guy coming to the small crowd of about ten people he opened up the gate and walked straight on the court, trying to deliver the pizza to the boys playing doubles. There was mayhem, the umpire couldn't control the situation and the pizza guy wanted his money. Michael double faulted and Nima went nuts at the whole situation. It was pretty funny.

You don't see this on the main tour.

The Big Cheese

Of course there was some negativity around from two groups in particular. The narrative here's an Aussie you can get behind, sure this is true but it requires context. It's in relation compared to Nick Kyrgios and Tomic, unfortunately a significant amount of people are criticising the fact those two are of immigrant background whereas Millman is good old Anglo-Celtic stock. As for the former two sure criticise them for their behaviour on court and attitude which is something they can control, whereas your ethinic, racial and cultural background is soemthing you can't. Or simply play the ball and not the man.

The other lot are that section of delusional and over entitled Federer fans who couldn't accept that he wasn't good enough to win on the day, including John McEnroe. That's tennis some days you play shit and win, others you play well and lose. Sergiy Stakhovsky nailed it when you're playing Federer it's two people it's the man and the legend. Millman down a set and had set points against him, he was always going to grind and compete. Got to tale your chances when they come along, he did and after all the crap he has had with the career, definitely deserved his moment in the sun and not to have it pissed on.



As for the tournament itself before beating the great man he had excellent wins against the mercurial Fabio "The Fog" Fognini, just was not missing at all from the baseline, especially on the backhand side and driving the Fog nuts. Taking out Kukushkin in the 3rd round as well showed he wasn't just someone who closed his eyes, swung and hoped for the best.

It has always been whether Millman could keep healthy, sometimes he has to control whether he works too hard. It's the work ethic, the fact when you ask him a question it's a honest answer without going to cliches. He is a very tough competitor but a very sporting individual, the fact he is maximising his potential is all one can ask.

Millman has improved his forehand whereas previously it was just a rally shot and he'd hardly hit any winners from it, unlike the backhand which he can hit down very well. As we know in tennis when the pressure on the technque on the weaknesses will get exposed and how the player can handle that scruitny. He knows he needs to be more aggressive at times when the short ball is there, but it's a difficult transition to just start doing it on a consistent basis. Has definitely improved on that aspect and there is no doubt that Millman will continue to work on his game.



His win over Federer was the most joy that I have experienced with a tennis result since the 2004 Roland Garros final. One because it was so unexpected, two it was over arguably the greatest tennis player of all time and lastly because after all the setbacks, the positivity Millman still possesses to keep perserving with tennis deserves to have his moment in the sun and that good blokes can succeed.

Davis Cup

Where to now for Millman, hopefully he has a few beverages tonight and then off to Graz for a Davis Cup tie, though sadly it's a meaningless tie with the restructure of Davis Cup happening next season, which is somethibg Millman has not held back when commenting about it. The Mailman played agsinst Belgium in the semis when he was only there as a hitting partner but the form was so good he was included. Played a very good match against Goffin and for some reason was robbed of playing a live 5th rubber when replaced by an inferior claycourt player Thompson who Darcis handled with ease.



Millman will find a way to look at this as a positive experience even though they really aren't playing for anything. I'm happy he gets to play especially as he was not one of the chosen ones as a junior and didn't receive much help from Tennis Australia. It's just a quesrionof keeping healthy and continuing to maximise his potential.

As the great man and father of John Ron "The Fox" Millman one of the great characters anywhere in the world no matter the results they are proud of him, and he sure he might not have any ATP titles at the moment but Millman is top tier in how he competes, treats people with respect and his work ethic. Excellent on the court and even better off the court.