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Key points
- John Millman has announced the 2024 Australian Open will be his last tournament.
- The Queenslander reached a career-high ranking of 33 and beat Roger Federer at the 2018 US Open.
- Millman represented Australia at two Olympic Games and thrived on playing in the Davis Cup.
John Millman is the first to tell you he is not an emotional person.
The battle-weary Australian tennis player – best known for his rise from sleeping on train station floors, to slaying the legendary Roger Federer at the 2018 US Open – even kept tears at check while breaking his retirement news to his two greatest supporters, parents Ron and Shona.
John Millman treasured representing Australia in the Davis Cup.Credit: Getty Images
But there is a breaking point for even the most stoic among us. For Millman, that was an end-of-year work Christmas party a decade ago.
He was recovering from a second bout of shoulder surgery and didn’t know if he would play tennis professionally again. Somewhat disillusioned, Millman swapped his racquet and shorts for a suit and tie, to start an internship at a financial services company in Brisbane, organised by close friend and mentor David Laverty.
Millman remembers wandering into the kitchen during the aforementioned Christmas do, and a tidal wave of emotions sweeping over him, with his mum’s advice to never have any regrets reverberating in his mind.
“I was not in a happy headspace,” he told this masthead on Friday, having announced his retirement on social media on Thursday night. “I had been tackling my rehab but not fully committing to it, and I thought I had a little more to give, and wanted to explore that.
“I had always been a hard worker, but something switched then in my mentality – I wanted to see, firstly, if I could get my shoulder back to where it was, and also become a bit of an animal.
“I prided myself on my physicality, and wanted to turn those negative times into a strength. I think by becoming a physical beast; I became quite mentally resilient.”
Thus, Millman’s famed work ethic, which often saw him significantly outlast his Australian Davis Cup teammates on the practice court, was born.
He was back playing competitively by April 2014, then 15 months later he made his top-100 debut, at age 26, after his ranking blew out to four figures during his injury hell.
John Millman stunned Roger Federer to reach the 2018 US Open quarter-finals.Credit: AP
Another three years on, Millman rallied from a set and 5-3 down to dump Federer out in the fourth round of the 2018 US Open, in the performance of his life, as he reached a maiden grand slam quarter-final in front of almost 24,000 New Yorkers on the world’s biggest tennis arena, Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It was a special moment for me, and elevated my reputation here in Australia,” he said.
“Tennis really only has any televised momentum here for one month a year, in January, and Australians probably don’t realise how global and big the sport is.
“I didn’t realise at the time I’d be talking a lot about Roger [for years afterwards], but it’s a good memory to have, and an experience I obviously preferred to have than not.”
The 34-year-old’s career-best ranking of No.33 followed soon after.
Millman counts two Olympic Games, five Davis Cup ties (3-3 singles record), 30 grand slam main draws, an ATP Tour singles title (Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2020), and top-20 victories over Federer, Richard Gasquet, Nick Kyrgios and Tommy Robredo on his resume.
Millman was one of the great tennis warriors during his career. Credit: Getty Images
But representing his country, not toppling Federer, is his greatest honour.
Others will fondly recall how Millman was a voice for the tour battlers, and his tales from the backstreets of the circuit are legendary, such as the time a pizza delivery man drove on court on a tuktuk during one of his low-level Futures matches and demanded payment on the spot.
Millman will hobble to the finish line – a badge of honour, he says – with a degenerative back condition ruining his 2023 season, while he returned from his US Open qualifying appearance in August, off a limited preparation, with another muscle tear in his right shoulder.
“Mum’s big thing was to have no regrets – and she really hammered that. But living through those struggles in the early days on the tennis tour was not easy,” he said.
“That was something that resonated with me late in my career. I’m very happy I didn’t pack it in. I would have loved to get higher than No.33 because, as a kid, you dream of winning grand slams, not just being 33 in the world.
“But when you’re out there, you realise how hard it is, and how many good players there are. That’s probably what makes me the proudest when I look in the mirror – I left it all out there.”
Millman will be part of Team Australia one last time for the United Cup, chiefly in a support role for Alex de Minaur – with his ranking of No.436 not good enough to score him a Brisbane International farewell – before heading to Melbourne to try and qualify for a 10th Australian Open.
“I’ve been hitting a fair bit at Tennyson, but I’m no longer able to do as big a pre-season as I’m known for,” he said.
“I’ll be guided by ‘Spitsy’ [Tennis Australia strength-and-conditioning coach Dirk Spits], to try to get me in as good a shape as possible. The most frustrating thing is that when my body’s been right, even this year, I’m still playing at quite a high level, but doing it week in, week out, has become near impossible.
“If I can get my body in a decent-enough space, I think I can qualify. If not, so be it – for me, the most important thing is Mum and Dad coming down to watch me play. It’s been a hell of a ride.”
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