By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Continuing an improbable run, Storm Hunter realized her “impossible” dream.
The 29-year-old Aussie and partner Elise Mertens reached the WTA Finals doubles semifinals in Cancun last weekend clinching Hunter’s historic rise to the world No. 1 doubles ranking.
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The left-hander is the second Aussie woman in history to finsh as year-end doubles No. 1 following Samantha Stosur, her former doubles partner, in 2006.
How did Hunter celebrate rising to the top of the world?
She hopped on a plane and flew to Seville to represent Australia in its Billie Jean King Cup opener. The quick turnaround has given Hunter little time to reflect on realizing her “impossible” dream.
“It’s still, to be honest, hasn’t really sunken in. It’s crazy,” Hunter told the media in Seville at the BJK Cup Finals. “I honestly didn’t think this would ever happen to me in my life. It was kind of a dream that just always was there but kind of seemed impossible, to be honest.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been a whirlwind few days.”
Wearing the No. 1 next to her name, and Australia in her back, Hunter delivered partnering Kimberley Birrell in a 7-5, 6-7, 10-5 doubles win accounting for the green-and-gold’s lone point in a 2-1 loss to Slovenia.
Hunter has been both the Storm and the calm clinching the year-end No. 1 and now hoping to help 2022 Billie Jean King Cup runner-up Australia back to the finals.
“It’s very exciting, but I’m kind of here to focus on our team,” Hunter said. “It’s not about me this week. It’s about getting Team Australia to do as best as we can, so that’s something that, yeah, I’ll be able to celebrate once we finish here. But for now it’s just doing my part for our team.”
Hunter’s commitment to the green-and-gold was evident in her packing for the flight from Cancun. Hunter wisely carried her racquets on board the flight so when the airline lost her luggage at least she was not disarmed.
“Bags didn’t arrive, so that made it a bit tricky, but I had some racquets on me and I was prepared to play today,” Hunter said. “I had my outfit, my shoes, and mentally I was ready to go if our team needed that.
“Yeah, it was obviously, yeah, a quick turnaround, but for me, representing my country is the greatest honor and honestly the most amazing thing I can ever do with my tennis career. I want to be ready and prepared whenever possible.”
Australian captain Alicia Molik said she believes in her players’ determination ahead of Australia’s do-or-die tie against a Kazakhstan squad led by 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.
“There is not many players that would put their hand up to play three-and-a-half hours after coming from a 17-hour trip to get themselves ready to play. That’s just how keen our players are,” Australian captain Alicia Molik said. “We always knew that would be the circumstance, you know, months ago. So it wasn’t a surprise, actually, that the players have come late. We sort of actually were banking on it, that they’d perform well at the Finals, because they had that kind of year. It kind of came to fruition, to be honest.”
Photo credit: Billie Jean King Cup Facebook
