Aussie tennis star wins US Open match despite getting news of terrifying deadly shooting at his girlfriend’s university: ‘I’ve still got a lot of mates there’
Australian tennis star wins US Open match despite news of terrifying fatal university shooting of his girlfriend: ‘I still have a lot of friends there’
- Rinky Hijikata defeated Pavel Kotov in the first round
- Heard about the shooting at the University of North Carolina
- He went to college, his girlfriend is still there
Rinky Hijikata has been rocked by a deadly shooting at his girlfriend’s school, just as the up-and-coming Australian tennis star scored the biggest win of his burgeoning career.
Hijikata toiled for nearly four hours to earn a 7-5 5-7 6-3 7-5 first-round US Open win over Russia’s Pavel Kotov to reach the second round of a grand for the first time slam outside Australia.
But the wild card’s turning point victory was quickly overshadowed by a fatal shooting at the University of North Carolina, where Hijikata spent two years.
A suspect is in custody after a faculty member was killed and terrorized students had to hide for hours as police searched for the shooter.
Hijikata visited the University of North Carolina with girlfriend Lauren Baddour (pictured together at the US Open last year), where a gunman shot and killed a staff member in gruesome scenes on Monday
Despite learning about the tragic happenings on campus, the Australian managed to win his first round match (pictured) against Pavel Kotov
“I was quite happy with today’s win, but that put a bit of pressure on things to be honest,” said Hijikata.
“First and foremost I want to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone in Chapel Hill because that’s not something you want to see what happened. There is much bigger than my tennis match here today.
‘I’ve been there for two years. I was supposed to graduate in May, but my girlfriend is still in school there. I still have a lot of friends on the team or at school.
“Not the news I was hoping for.”
The 22-year-old said coming from Australia made it difficult to understand how shootings in the US seem so common.
“It’s a very different dynamic,” Hijikata said.
Hijikata said his experiences of living in the US have taught him that “there are times when you don’t feel safe” in the country due to the number of deaths from shootings.
Hijikata (pictured with Baddour) earned $192,000 for his win at Flushing Meadows
“I feel as an Australian it can be a bit mind boggling at times the way things are going in the US.
“There are times when you don’t feel safe and it’s very unfortunate what happened today.
“I feel like it’s really not an unexpected event, which almost makes it worse.”
In addition to a guaranteed payday of $192,000, Hijikata’s victory gave the Sydneysider a shot at unseeded Hungarian Marton Fucsovics for the first time for a place in the third round of a grand slam.
After seeing a video of students jumping from a window, Hijikata vowed to play for his old schoolmates.
“I think I will come tomorrow, hopefully everything will be fine with me,” he said.
“I will definitely be focused on my game. I want to at least try to play 10, 20 percent louder for everyone in school right now on Wednesday 10, 20 percent.
“I will certainly do my best for everyone at home and for all the Tar Heels (college basketball players).”