Not since Conor Niland, back in 2011, has an Irish player reached the main draw at Wimbledon. While the Limerick man remains the last to play under the Irish tricolour at the famed Grand Slam event, on Tuesday one very proud Irish-Australian player will take to the turf at the All England Club.
Twenty-one-year-old James McCabe will face Hungary’s Fábián Marozsán in the opening round after coming through last week’s qualifiers.
Currently 181st in the ATP rankings, his attendance at Wimbledon will go some way towards helping him climb the ladder to the coveted top 100. Quite the achievement, given his unconventional start in the sport.
The son of Dubliner Patrick McCabe, who emigrated to Australia from Walkinstown in 1987, and his wife Irene, who is from the Philippines, McCabe’s first introduction to tennis was in the complex where the family live in southern Sydney.
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Clay is not his surface. He likes grass and hard courts
“There just happened to be a tennis court there,” Patrick McCabe explains. “So when he was two-and-a-half I brought him down, and he seemed to have a very good aptitude for it, so I just kept on bringing him down daily.”
Patrick himself has never played tennis. “I didn’t know what I was doing. There was a tennis club about a mile away, but we couldn’t afford to hire the courts or the lessons because it was really expensive.
“If the tennis court hadn’t been in that complex where we rented, then I don’t think he ever would have picked up a tennis racket, because he wouldn’t have been able to afford it.”
But the tennis court wasn’t the only sporting facility readily available: there was also a pool, and James took to swimming as naturally as he did to tennis, becoming a national champion in both sports before hitting his teenage years and earning himself a scholarship to a private school.
There, James discovered another aptitude, this time for music, learning the piano and flute before teaching himself to play the guitar.
With his swimming and music commitments, tennis took a back seat for much of his school years, bar a stint which ultimately saw him earn a wildcard spot at the 2020 Australian Open junior championships.
Unlike many of his tennis contemporaries, McCabe’s time on the junior circuit was rather limited, playing in only a handful of tournaments, but it doesn’t seem to have hampered his efforts in the senior ranks. In January, he played in the main draw at the Australian Open for a second year running, going one better than 2024 by winning his first-round match against Martin Landaluce, before being defeated by Alex Michelsen in the second.
When James was two-and-a-half I brought him down to the courts, and he seemed to have a very good aptitude for it
Wimbledon will be his first grand slam event outside of Australia, but the McCabes are confident the Melbourne outings will stand to him in southwest London.
“It’s experience, it’s just constant experience,” says Patrick.
“He played in the French Open qualifying and he didn’t do too well there, but clay is not his surface. He likes grass and hard courts. He does have a very decent serve, so if he serves well and returns well, he’s got a good chance.”
So far in 2025, the ATP 250, Challenger Tour and majors have taken the McCabes around Australia, India, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, South Korea, China, Portugal, France, England and the Netherlands. After Wimbledon, it’s more of the same.
“Eight months a year we’re on the road,” Patrick says of the rigorous calendar.
He does have a very decent serve, so if he serves well and returns well, he’s got a good chance
“As soon as he’s out of Wimbledon, he heads to America, then to Mexico, then to Canada. Hopefully he’ll be in the main draw again for the US Open at the end of August. And then we’ll be going to Asia – China, Japan, South Korea – and then looking to head back to Australia.”
McCabe is proud of his Irish roots, holds an Irish passport and has visited a number of times, as Patrick has three sisters still living here.
Tuesday will be a tough ask for McCabe, with his opponent Marozsán currently 58th in the ATP rankings. But his father says his son will treat this like any other tournament. They’ll do a quick 20-minute debrief on the Hungarian tonight, but aside from that McCabe will go out and play his own game.
“It’s a dream,” McCabe says. Long may his dream continue.
♦ McCabe is scheduled to be in action on Court 11 at 11am on Tuesday. BBC Two will have live coverage of the morning session.
