"It felt illegal winning Wimbledon in front of the royal box with a mullet" - Purcell jokes about his hairstyle
ATP
Max Purcell has yet to break through on the singles court, but he has plenty of experience with playing Grand Slam finals in doubles.
In 2020, Purcell played his maiden Grand Slam doubles final at the Australian Open alongside Luke Saville. However, they lost to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Two years later, the Australian changed his doubles partner and played with more experienced Matthew Ebden. With a new teammate, Purcell reached the Australian Open final once again in 2022, but this time, the duo lost to compatriots Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios.
Yet, Purcell and Ebden believed in the strength of their pairing and signed up also for Wimbledon. And their run didn't start well. They were 0-2 down against Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan already in the first round and faced three match points in the fifth set of the match.
But that was exactly where the comeback story for Purcell and Ebden started. In the second round, they came back from a 1-2 deficit, and in the third round, they faced seven break points in the fifth set. Yet, they won all of these matches and advanced to the quarter-finals.
Their quarter-final victory was the only one that was not fought in five sets as they defeated John Peers and Filip Polasek. In the semi-finals, Purcell and Ebden found themselves 0-2 down once again against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, and in the third-set tie-break, they faced five match points.
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And they won once again. In the final, the "comeback kings, were losing 1-2 again, and they even were a break down in the fifth set, but they never stopped fighting to win their maiden Grand Slam title.
Despite an incredible run, Purcell still got asked about his hairstyle when he won his singles match in Newport a few days later and the response he provided was quite funny.
"J.J. Wolf was my inspiration from the start. It actually felt pretty illegal winning Wimbledon in front of the royal with a mullet, so I'm just gonna keep it."
