Aggie Kypson Clinches 2026 Aussie Wild Card

Riding the wave of four Challenger wins in 2025, Patrick Kypson, the former Texas A&M Aggie, secured a main draw wild card into the 2026 Australian Open by winning the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. 

Before he was traveling the world on the ATP Tour and Challenger circuit, Kypson made a splash on the 2017 Texas A&M Men’s Tennis team. That same team included fellow Aggies Arthur Rindernech and Valentin Vacherot who have had remarkable success this fall. 

After two titles in the span of three weeks (Sioux Falls and Helsinki), Kypson did the math and knew he had the challenge locked up. 

"[By the Helsinki semifinials] I thought that maybe I had clinched it already,” he said. “I'm not sure, but I knew that when I won that was definitely going to be enough to clinch even though there was one week remaining in the challenge."

Kypson, who previously earned a spot in the 2022 Australian Open and won the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge in 2023, said the accomplishment was an “amazing bonus” after a season battling back from an early-year injury. He entered the year with eyes set on breaking the top-100, only to be sidelined with stress fractures to his left foot.  

“​​I think I fell close to 500 in the rankings. So, you know, I definitely was really far away from what I had kind of set out at the beginning of the year to do,” he said. 

No stranger to injury, Kypson used the setback as an opportunity to refocus on his mental game. 

“It just made me take that number kind of out of my head and focus on the things that I could control on a daily basis,” he said. “I tried to work a lot with my sports psychologist on my mentality and just how I’m seeing myself out on the court when I am performing. And that’s something I do on a weekly basis, and I obviously had more time to do it then. So, I think that was probably the main thing that I could give credit to for coming back pretty strong, was just continuing to build the mentality that I want on the court.”

When Kypson wasn’t on-court racking up wins, he had the opportunity to watch his former Aggie teammates go on an unprecedented run at the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament. That event cultivated with Rindernech and Vacherot, former teammates and cousins, facing off in the finals. Vacherot, who entered the tournament as a qualifier ranked 204 in the world, became the lowest-ranked player to win a Master’s 1000 event. 

“I think what Val and Arthur did in Shanghai was one of the craziest things to ever happen in the sport, honestly,” Kypson said. “[It was] really well earned from both guys and a great month and a half for Aggie Tennis for sure.”

He said he stays in close contact with both players along with his former coaches in College Station. 

“We all are very close with Steve Denton and Kevin O’Shea, both of the coaches there... So all three of us are extremely close with Steve and Kevin for sure and I know that those guys talk with [the coaches] just as much as I do."

Kypson has fond memories of his time in Aggieland and how close the team was during his time. 

“I think it was just really fun to battle with those guys on a weekly basis and kind of just go out and show how good we were each and every weekend,” he said. “I think that’s something that we can all agree was an amazing time and amazing experience for sure.”

Following a stellar 2025, Kypson has a busy 2026 ahead but he said he still looks forward to spending more time in the state of Texas someday. 

“I like Texas a lot,” he said. “[The state] always fit my personality and what I like in life, you know, more country and the Texas lifestyle. I don't get back as much as I would like to, but when I'm done with my career I'd like to at least get up to some  [Texas A&M] games and be around a little bit more often.”

The Australian Open Wild Card challenge was started in 2015 and seeks to reward American USTA Pro Circuit players who compete for the wild card by points during the months of October and November. The wild card slots are part of a reciprocal agreement between the US Open and the Australian Open.