Luke Saville’s retirement has been postponed for at least another match after he and compatriot Li Tu progressed to the third round of the men’s doubles at Australian Open 2025.
Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 18 January 2025 | Sean A’Hearn
Luke Saville’s retirement has been postponed for at least another match alongside compatriot, Li Tu, after the duo downed fellow all-Aussie pair James Duckworth and Aleksandar Vukic 6-1 7-5.
“Today was a tricky one, playing against a couple of mates. But yeah, we’re in a third round and I feel like we’re getting better with every match,” Saville said.
Announcing that the Australian Open would be his final tournament, Saville can look back at his career with satisfaction, no matter what happens at AO 2025.
Rising to prominence when he won boys’ singles titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and Australian Open 2012, Saville went on to clinch 11 ITF singles titles.
Saville has been better known for his doubles career, which features 31 titles and an appearance in the Australian Open 2020 men’s doubles final alongside Max Purcell.
Playing with Tu this time around, Saville is happy with the pair’s form despite feeling mixed emotions about his imminent retirement.
“We’re playing reasonably free out there which is a nice feeling and doing it with a close mate. I think about it every now and then that this could be the last match, and I get a little worked up, for sure,” he reflected.
“Last couple of months have been reasonably tough but I’m very content coming to the decision.”
The host nation has been blessed with Australian winners in the past three editions of the AO men’s doubles event.
As the only all-Aussie men’s doubles team left in the draw, could Saville and Tu continue the trend?
“We’re not here to make up the numbers. Luke has made a final here before so why not go one step further?” Tu said.
“I’m just really enjoying playing with Luke in his last tournament. Every match I wanna try and give my all and end on a really positive note. Nothing’s impossible.”
Whatever the outcome, Saville wants to soak up every moment.
“All I want for both of us, I wanna go out having fun. If we go down, we may as well enjoy it which is what we’re doing,” he said with a wry smile.
With their next match scheduled at Rod Laver Arena against Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek, who upset 10th seeded British pair Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, Saville and Tu are excited to “keep it going”.
In mixed doubles, Olivia Gadecki and John Peers progressed over American pair, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ryan Galloway, 7-6(9) 6-1 while third seeds Ellen Perez and German Kevin Krawietz eventually prevailed against Nina Stojanovic and Mate Pavic 6-4 6-7(3) [10-2].
