Sam Groth hopes to start the long road back to the tennis elite at the Australian Open wildcard playoff, which gets under way at Melbourne Park on Monday.
After winning just four ATP matches this year, the 2015 Newcombe Medallist has plummeted to 181st in the world rankings.
Groth will need to win four straight matches to guarantee himself a spot in January's Open main draw for the fifth successive year, and begins his quest against Dayne Kelly.
Groth is seeded second behind Andrew Whittington in a strong field also featuring former Australian Open junior champion Luke Saville, 2014 US Open boys' winner Omar Jasika and dual grand slam junior finalist Alex De Minaur. The girls' wildcard playoff, headed by top seed Arina Rodionova and also featuring Sara Tomic, gets under way on Tuesday.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN WILDCARD PLAYOFF DRAW
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Men's singles, round of 16
1-Andrew Whittington v Max Purcell
Maverick Banes 5-John-Patrick Smith
4-Marc Polmans v Scott Jones
Harry Bourchier v 8-Blake Mott 7-Luke Saville v Gavin van Peperzeel
Omar Jasika v 3-Marinko Matosevic
6-Christopher O'Connell v Alex De Minaur Dayne Kelly v 2-Sam Groth Women's singles, round of 16 1-Arina Rodionova v Belinda Woolcock Ellen Perez v 6-Olivia Tjandramulia 3-Jaimee Fourlis v Viktorija Rajicic Kaylah McPhee v 8-Priscilla Hon 5-Tammi Patterson v Abbie Myers Michaela Haet v 4-Naiktha Bains 7-Sara Tomic v Maddison Inglis Angelique Svinos v 2-Alison Bai
