Aussies around the globe – 2011 Recap: Hewitt, Tomic, and more

Written by: Global Chick on 17th November 2011

Aussies around the globe – 2011 Recap: Hewitt, Tomic, and more

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in action against Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka during their Davis Cup world group play-off in Sydney, 18 September 2011. Play was suspended shortly before 6pm due to low light. EPA/DEAN LEWINS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT, EDITORIAL USE ONLY |

The unthinkable happened – Lleyton Hewitt was overtaken as Australia’s number one player by his archenemy and much younger star Bernard Tomic. Does Hewitt think he has another Grand Slam left in him? Can Tomic be inside Top 10 next year? Where have all the Aussie doubles players gone? Let’s have a look at what happened to our Australian friends this year.

Lleyton Hewitt – This week Hewitt has been overtaken by both Bernard Tomic and Matthew Ebden in the Australian rankings. The former world number one is this week ranked No. 186 on the ATP Tour rankings. Of course the reason for the drop in the rankings are his many injuries. With a total of 28 career singles titles Lleyton’s last tournament title was in Halle on Grass in 2010. This year’s best result came at San Jose, Memphis and Halle where he reached the quarterfinals. The last two matches the former US Open Champion played were at the Davis Cup World Group playoff in Sydney. He lost both his singles rubbers against Federer and Wawrinka. Hewitt has committed to playing at the Apia Sydney International where he has also taken on an Ambassadorial role.

Bernard Tomic – Is the latest Australian success story. The Aussie teenager is currently sitting on his highest singles ranking ever at No. 41. Tomic reached the round of 32 at the Australian Open in January losing to Rafael Nadal in three sets. He followed that up by reaching one semi-final and one quarterfinal at two Australian Challengers. The grass court season was a huge success for this tall lanky player. He reached the semi-finals of two Challengers in Nottingham two weeks before Wimbledon. And it was at the prestigious Wimbledon Tomic made a name for himself on the world tennis stage by reaching the quarterfinal and losing to Novak Djokovic. On the way to the quarters, the Queenslander had to get through qualifying and in the main draw he beat Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, Robin Soderling, and Xavier Malisse. The American Swing wasn’t a success for Tomic who returned home with only two matches won. He represented his country in the Davis Cup World Group playoffs with Lleyton Hewitt. Tomic won his match against Wawrinka and lost to Federer. After that the World No. 41 travelled to Asia where he reached the quarters of Japan Open and the round of 16 at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. He received a wildcard at Stockholm Open where he won his first round and lost to Gael Monfils in the second. A first round qualifying loss at the Swiss Indoors concluded his season. Good luck to Bernie Tomic during the Australian Summer Swing! It will be nice to see Tomic competing at the AAMI Classic at Kooyong the week before the Australian Open.

Matthew Ebden – Currently the No. 2 ranked player in Australia. The South African born is No. 82 on the ATP Tour singles rankings. So far Ebden has not lifted any singles trophies. He reached the finals of two ATP Tour doubles events this year, Newport (w. Ryan Harrison) and Atlanta (w. Alex Bogomolov Jr.). Ebden spends most of his time on the Challenger Tour but this year he has been very successful on the regular Tour as well. The Western Australian resident started of the year by qualifying for the Brisbane International and reaching the quarterfinals. He waited until the Queens Tournament to find form again. Ebden qualified and reached the second round before losing to Rafael Nadal. He had a great week at the Shanghai Rolex Masters where he qualified and got to the quarterfinals. On the way to the quarters he took out Ryan Harrison and World No. 14 Gilles Simon before losing to Andy Murray. Ebden is also part of the Australian David Cup team.

Another player we have followed closely this year is American born Aussie representative Carsten Ball. He is the son of former tennis professional Syd Ball. This 24-year-old plays mostly Futures, Challengers and qualifying for the bigger events. His singles ranking this week is No. 352. Ball’s biggest success has been his partnership with veteran player Chris Guccione on the Challenger Tour playing doubles. In 2010 Carsten and “The Gooch” won the title in Newport on grass. Carsten’s doubles ranking is No. 82. Ball has also been part of the Aussie Davis Cup team, he became a member in 2008.

Chris Guccione, the 201 centimetres tall Victorian has had his fair share of injuries over the years. His highest career ranking came in 2008 when he finished inside the Top 100 for the first time. That same year Gooch reached the final of the Adelaide tournament and the following week he got to the final of Sydney. The Melburnian’s singles record has not been great this year but he has made up in the doubles department with Carsten Ball. The two have won three Challenger titles the latest being in California in October.

The highest ranked doubles player this year is Paul Hanley at No. 45. Only 5 Australians are ranked inside the Top 100. At No. 82 is Carsten Ball, followed by Matthew Ebden at No. 90. Retired doubles player only Ashley Fisher is still at No. 95 and the Big Gooch is at No. 100. Hanley was ranked as high as number five in the world on the doubles ranking. “Handles started the year off with back to back wins with Lukas Dlouhy winning Brisbane and Sydney beating the World number one team Bob and Mike Bryan in both finals. Semi-finals in Munich and Bangkok are his best 2011 results.

Ashley Fisher retired this year after missing his family too much. Good luck Ash with your future projects!

We are very much looking forward to the Australian Tennis Summer. The Aussie tournaments are now announcing their playing fields and many exciting matches will be played on Australian turf in January.

Top players singed up for the Australian tournaments are:

Brisbane International: Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur, Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams. In the men’s singles only Bernard Tomic is confirmed so far

Apia International: Sam Stosur, Li Na, Ana Ivanovic and Lleyton Hewitt.

World Team Challenge in Adelaide: John McEnroe, James Blake, Pat Rafter, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Henri Leconte, Michael Llodra, Brad Gilbert, Stanislas Wawrinka and Mansour

AAMI Classic 2012 – Andy Roddick, Jurgen Melzer, Gael Monfils, Tomas Berdych, Bernard Tomic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Two more spots are to be filled.