Tristan Boyer is far from focused on tennis.
As a Southern California native, Boyer watches from the Australian Open as the Southern California wildfires continue to devastate the region.
Many homes have been destroyed and even more families have had to evacuate, including Boyer's father, who had to leave the family's home in Altadena, CA. Boyer's mother and grandfather are with him in Australia.
After beating Christopher Eubanks in straight sets, instead of joy and excitement as the 23-year-old qualified for his first-ever Grand Slam, Boyer discovered the fire was less than five miles from his childhood home.
"Our house is okay and he's safe." Boyer told ATP.com. "We have neighbors and family friends I really feel for who lost their home."
Boyer, ranked No. 136 in the world, was forced to look ahead to his first-round matchup in the 2025 Australian Open against Argentinian Federico Coria, ranked world No. 96.
Boyer is very familiar with Argentina as he does a majority of his training in Buenos Aires. In 2022, when he left Stanford University — where he studied mechanical engineering off the court — he trained in Argentina with Alejandro Fabbri to recover from a foot injury that sidelined him most of the year.
In this week's first-round matchup against a player ranked 40 spots ahead of him, Boyer found himself down two sets to one and on the brink of elimination, down 4-2 in the fourth set.
Boyer broke Coria twice in the fourth set and came back to win it, 7-5.
He then dominated the Argentinian in the fifth set, 6-1, to clinch his first Grand Slam main draw victory, and also his first-ever five-set win.
"I'm just happy to have got it done today," Boyer said afterward. "Yeah, first five-set match. It was a battle. Coria is a fighter. Just happy to be through it."
After a test just as difficult mentally as it was physically, Boyer now moves on to the second round to play Australian and world No. 8, Alex de Minaur.
Playing the hometown favorite also means that Boyer will achieve another first, playing his first-ever match in a stadium court at a Grand Slam. Unsurprisingly, the 23-year-old can't wait.
"It's going to be super, super fun," Boyer said. "I've never played a match on a stadium like that. Practiced on [Arthur] Ashe [Stadium] a few times, but that's it. It's awesome."
Boyer also talked about what it meant to represent a region ravaged by the wildfires while also preparing to achieve what he has set out to do as a tennis player.
He has a simple goal, but one he has without a doubt provided for wildfire victims following his story.
"I just want to give people good news."
Boyer is set to take on De Minaur Wednesday at 6:30pm PT on ESPN+.
English (US) ·