Salvatore Caruso has long dreamed of creating a sporting shock in Melbourne. However, that hope is aimed at the F1 track at Albert Park, not on the Australian Open.
The Italian tennis player, who once dreamed of becoming a Formula 1 racer, has received attention when he became the replacement for Novak Djokovic on the Australian Open draw after the world No. 1 was deported.
When hearing the name Salvatore Caruso, many people will think, "Isn't this an Opera singer?". No, that was Enrico Caruso. Salvatore is a world-class 150-ranked tennis player who turned professional in 2010 after her F1 ambition was overthrown by smoke.
Caruso entered the Australian Open's main round as a 'lucky loser' to replace Djokovic after the Serbian tennis player's visa was canceled for the second time.
Caruso, who was still playing at a tour satellite event in Bendigo at the beginning of the month, reached the final round of the qualifying round, but lost 4-6 to 3-6 to Japanese tennis player Taro Daniel.
And that's normal for Caruso. Game, set and end of the match...
But he knew that if Djokovic was deported, he would be the one to benefit with a place in the main round. And now, Caruso finds himself in a special position when playing on the pitch on Monday evening (17.1).
Interestingly, Caruso will play Djokovic's compatriot, Miomir Kecmanovic, who has said he will try to " take revenge" on Djokovic with a strong performance in Melbourne.
"The players I have spoken to agree that this unreasonable thing should never happen," Kecmanovic said, "He was treated unfairly by the politicians. He's not playing, which is a big loss for the sport."
Caruso turned professional in 2010 and achieved his highest career ranking of 76th in the world at the end of 2020. His career bonus to date is $1,718,446. If they lose in the first round, Caruso will also receive an additional 103,000 USD.
Salvatore Caruso, who plays both singles and doubles, has not won any ATP title in the past 10 years of his career. The 29-year-old has just won titles in the ATP Challenger and ITF Futures systems (7 singles titles and 5 doubles titles).
At Grand Slams, Caruso went all the way to the third round at the Australian Open in 2021, US Open in 2020 and French Open in 2019. At Wimbledon, both of their appearances (2019 and 2021) were eliminated in the first round.
As of last year, Caruso has won just one game against 11 players in the Top 10. That was a victory over Gilles Simon, while losing to Djokovic and Andrey Rublev twice, losing to Stefano Tsitsipas, Kei Nishikori, John Isner, David Goffin, Richard Gasquet, Fabio fognini, Marcos Baghdatis, Kevin Anderson and Simon once.
