Months after questioning his tennis future, Dane Sweeny has achieved a childhood dream by winning at a grand slam.
The plucky 24-year-old, who went to school at Siena Catholic College on the Sunshine Coast, pulled off a memorable Australian Open win on January 20, ending the Melbourne Park career of popular French veteran Gael Monfils.
The victory ensured the world No.182 will pocket a guaranteed $225,000 for progressing to the second round of a major for the first time.
It is a remarkable rise for Sweeny, whose ranking was in the 500s as recently as last July.
“I could imagine it but it was more like a dream,” he said when asked about his plight last year.
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“I knew deep down I could do this if I kept putting my head down.
“I was really questioning my game, questioning my journey and questioning whether tennis is something I should be doing.
“But there was that voice deep down that knew I could do it if I kept going.
“But this is just the beginning.”
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Sweeny, who stands at 170cm and weighs just 63kgs to be one of the smaller players on tour, qualified for the Australian Open in 2024, before a hard-fought five-set loss to Argentine seed Francisco Cerundolo in the first round.
He has done it the hard way since first picking up a racquet aged two.
Father Clay sold his cleaning business to coach his son around the world.
“They’ve never been poor, but not ever been super well-off, so they’ve had to financially sacrifice a lot and emotionally sacrifice a lot,” Sweeny said of his parents.
“I’ve been pretty independent from when I started making enough money … but they’ve been relentlessly sacrificial my whole life.”
Sweeny, born in Sydney, has lived on the Sunshine Coast for a large slice of his life. He honed his skills out of the KT Academy, Mooloolaba Tennis Club.
Sweeny will face American world No.8 Ben Shelton in a second round match that will likely be on one of the major courts at Melbourne Park on January 22.
“I’m very excited at the opportunity to play a big dog like him,” Sweeny said.
“I was really hoping first round I would play (Jannik) Sinner or (Carlos) Alcaraz, so playing Shelton it’s a good consolation prize playing him second round.
“He has arguably the best serve in the world so that will be a big puzzle to solve.”
Even if he can’t pull off a monumental upset by taking out Shelton, Sweeny’s ranking is guaranteed to surpass his career-high ranking of 181.
In the live rankings after he defeated Monfils, Sweeny had already jumped to 148.
