Thomas bows out of Australian Open but charms with the help of chips
Sixteen-year-old Flynn Thomas and his mother Sandra come as a pair.
Sat courtside at the 1753 Arena during her son’s long three-set victory over Yannick Alexandrescou in the second round at the 2025 Australian Open Junior Championships on Tuesday, Sandra was up and down throughout. Her son was struggling to find a steady level of play and flitted across to vent his frustrations.
Flynn is a livewire and fits the teenage template to a tee. Cap worn back to front and perched high on his head, he chuntered away to himself and Sandra all match. Off court, however, he is as charming as they come and forms a solid double act with Sandra, his sole companion on his first trip to Australia.
Match done and there were plenty of positive, while Thomas had a wry take on almost everything.
He’s from Zurich and I mention that I had spoken to his compatriot Henry Bernet about his love for his hometown Basel.
“Nah, I disagree. Zurich is the best place in Switzerland,” he shot back.
I enquire about his name, not a Swiss stereotype, but he seems thrown. It’s a Polish-German hybrid Sandra informs us.
At which point we approach the most teenage thing ever.
What’s your post-match routine Flynn?
Fifteen minutes on the bike, a bit of stretching but “not too much” and then some TV. And chips!
“He loves chips,” says Sandra who is seemingly at her happiest when matches are over. She does not enjoy watching Flynn.
“I hate to watch my son, it’s no fun for a mum,” she says. “His coach is at home. My job is to cook and wash for my son, not to be the coach.”
Flynn takes a different tack.
“It’s fun when I look at her on court,” he adds. “I cannot take her seriously because when I look at her I have to smile.”
Which has to be good.
During Wednesday's third round, Thomas saved match point against American Jagger Leach at 5-3 – a set he eventually took 7-5 – before falling in the third. It was touch and go for both players and Thomas will feel aggrieved that he let the chance of a place in the quarter-final slip, losing 3-6 7-5 6-7(6).
Leach will now face Sweden's William Rejchtman, a member of the Grand Slam Player Development Programme/ITF Touring Team, for a place in the semi-finals.
Rejchtman dispatched Kazakhstan’s Amir Omarkhanov, the No. 2 seed here in Melbourne, in three sets in round three to reach the quarter-finals of a Junior Grand Slam for the first time. In fact, he has never gone beyond the second round at Slam before.
Elsewhere, Timofei Derepasko was the first player into the quarter-finals on Wednesday after beating the USA’s Dominick Mosejczuk 7-6(3) 6-3. He will now face Benjamin Willwerth in his maiden Junior Grand Slam last-eight tussle.
“Today is the best temperature that could be possible for the tennis,” he said. “Yesterday was super-hot, I was very tired after that match, it was very hard. It was a bit windy today but not like when you can’t control the ball.”
With a first-round loss on his Australian Open Junior Championships debut a year ago, Derepasko is keen to stay in the tournament as long as he can.
“The final (on Saturday) is my goal,” he says. “I will play match by match but I am really enjoying playing here.”
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the current players he looks up to, but he has an even more accomplished former player in his corner.
Step forward, Rafael Nadal.
“I am training in Spain, at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Majorca,” Derepasko said.
“I have been there for one year and two months and have practiced with Rafa a couple of times. He hits the ball very hard.”
Clay was something of an alien surface before his Spanish sojourn he said, but everything has changed.
“Before I was hating clay, but now I like it.”
Vamos, Timofei.