Aussie tennis champ Christopher O’Connell is going up against top-seeded Jannik Sinner, looking to secure his place in the Miami Open quarterfinals on Tuesday. Thousands of fans will turn up at Hard Rock Stadium to watch him in hopes that he wins against the 2024 Australian Open winner. Especially after hearing about his boating adventures that took him away from tennis for a while.

Before he made it to the center stage of the tennis world, Chris O’Connell used to clean boats until 6 years ago instead of playing, or coaching, tennis. Done with the racket sport by then, the Aussie felt uncomfortable even stepping on a tennis court.

Chris O’Connell preferred cleaning boats over teaching forehands

The year 2018 forced Christopher O’Connell to take a break from tennis because of multiple injuries. Away from the court, he decided to live in Sydney along with his brother Ben, who was actually the one who invited him to clean boats with him. O’Connell readily agreed because he didn’t want anything to do with tennis just then.

The Australian shared, “I was thinking, ‘Sweet, I don’t have to teach anyone to hit a forehand and I can just clean boats and relax.’ That’s what I did for the morning and afternoon and I’d ride my bike down to the bay. I did that from February to June. It was terrible money and everyone thought I was crazy because I could get more money coaching. But I just didn’t want to step on a tennis court.”

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He had actually considered coaching kids or doing clinics but since he was looking to take a break from the sport, those options did not pan out. Even though six years ago he was cleaning boats, now he is all about improving his game, and on the top of his list is taking out Jannik Sinner.

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O’Connell plans to beat Jannik Sinner at the Miami Open

Sinner and O’Connell have only had one Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting back in 2021 in Atlanta where the Australian defeated the Italian. O’Connell shared his experience from back then as he now plans to play against Sinner again.

He said, “I felt when I played him, he just has such raw power. He wasn’t the player he is now. I beat him in Atlanta a couple of years ago, but I’m sure he’s going to be more fired up for it, definitely this time around.”

O’Connell is not the only one excited for this match. Even Sinner shared his point of view on this, “He’s a good player. Good serve. Moving really well. Tough player. For sure a tough match. [Fourth] round in a big event, nobody comes there for no reason, so I have to be very careful.”

Looks like it is going to be one heck of a match and incredibly entertaining for both of their fans. Have you chosen a side already? Team Sinner or Team O’Connell? Let us know!