Christopher O'Connell | Bio | ATP Tour

Personal
Career

Nickname is Chris.
Father, Ian; mother, Christine; brother, Ben; sister, Emily.
Began playing tennis at age 4 with mom.
Grew up on the northern beaches in Sydney and says he has "that relaxed beach lifestyle in me."
Was also an avid runner as a child and says he loved running around hitting the tennis ball.
Won Australian Under-14 National Championship.
Favourite shot is backhand, surface is clay and tournament is Australian Open.
Tennis idol is 2004 Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio.
Enjoys rugby league. Favourite team is Newcastle Knights. Hero is Knights legend Andrew Johns.
Also admires baseball player Mike Trout.
Favourite superhero is Batman and book is Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden.
Enjoys music of Australian rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
Favourite TV show is The Wire, movie is The Shawshank Redemption and actor is Brad Pitt.
Likes to surf and says his best quality is his determination.
Favourite school subject was art and favourite food is sushi.
Missed 18 months from 2012-14 with a stress fracture of his back and 8 months in 2018 with knee tendinitis. Also caught pneumonia in 2017.
In 2018, stopped playing tennis to clean boats with his brother: "At that stage I was thinking that I'm having too many injuries and wanted to get away from tennis. I was thinking to coach kids and maybe do clinics, but I didn't want to step on a tennis court anymore. I decided to do something completely weird. I lived on a little bay in Sydney and my brother Ben was there too. He invited me to come clean boats with him. 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. It was incredibly frustrating, because I was 23 at the time and life was going so quickly. I felt like I hadn't gotten anything from the game yet and hadn't reached my potential. But I always had in the back of my mind that I was going to get back out there once I was healthy and ready. When I decided to come back in 2019, I had a breakthrough year."

(UPDATED 19 JANUARY 2026)

Unranked to begin 2019, broke into Top 200 in September 2019 and ended 2022 season at No. 78, before reaching career-high No. 53 in September 2023 after winning 5th Challenger title in Shanghai without losing a set.
Advanced to 1st ATP Tour SF at 2022 San Diego after reaching 1st ATP Tour QF at 2021 Atlanta as Q.
Qualified at 6 tour-level events in 2022, including hometown tournament in Sydney.
Defeated No. 13 Schwartzman for biggest win of career and to reach 2022 Australian Open 3R as WC and No. 16 Zverev to advance to 2nd ATP Tour SF at 2023 Munich.
Played 108 main draw and qualifying singles matches across all tours in 2019, posting 50-11 record on ITF World Tennis Tour with 3 titles in 10 finals.
Stopped playing tennis in 2018 due to many injuries to clean boats with his brother and get away from tennis, deciding to come back to the sport in 2019.

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