Australian Men Shocked to Be Out of Wimbledon Competition

Written by: on 27th June 2012
Tennis BNP Paribas Open 2012
Australian Men Shocked to Be Out of Wimbledon Competition

epa03145007 Matthew Ebden of Australia hits a return against John Isner of USA during the BNP Paribas Open tennis in Indian Wells, California, USA 14 March 2012. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO  |

Australia has the greatest tennis history of grass court success in the world with iconic names figuring on the All England Club’s honor board such as Laver, Hoad, Sedgman, Cooper, Fraser, Emerson, Newcombe, Cash and most recently Lleyton Hewitt. But for the first time since 1938 the nation from Down Under doesn’t have a player in Wimbledon ’s second round.

Hewitt, champion in 2002, along with compatriots Bernard Tomic and Matthew Ebden all suffered early exits. Going into Day Three of the tournament and the women’s second round, US Open champion Sam Stosur was the only Australian survivor after initial defeats for Anastasia Rodionova, Jarmila Gajdosova, Casey Dellacqua and young wildcard Ashleigh Barty.

To compound the shame, Tomic was booed off court following his defeat by Belgium ’s Wimbledon debutant David Goffin. The 19-year-old who last year became the youngest quarter-finalist since Boris Becker in 1985, had smashed two rackets and earned himself a code violation for ungentlemanly behavior.

Paul McNamee, once tournament director of the Australian Open, summed up the mood when he said: “It was a grim day for Australia , the worst day I’ve ever known in living memory. Is Australian tennis in crisis? I don’t think you can call it anything else when you have results like these.”

“Unfortunately I think this day has been coming for a while. We’ve escaped the truth I guess with the odd player doing well here and there, Lleyton carrying the flag, and Sam obviously having some good results as well Bernard Tomic progressing. But I think it’s camouflaged a deeper problem where we really haven’t brought enough young players through.”

Davis Cup stalwart Wally Masur was similarly downcast. “We’ve gone a long way from grass courts and a long way from that style of play,” said the man who three times reached Wimbledon ’s last 16.

“When I was playing, you could close your eyes and conjure up an Australian in terms of their characteristics and their game style, and it was very suited to grass. I don’t think you can close your eyes and conjure up an Australian anymore. I think we’ve lost our identity, and while I think it’s fantastic that the Australian Open did what it did and it had to happen, it did cost us our identity.”

Woodbridge looked grim after he emerged from the Channel 7 commentary booth following Hewitt’s straight sets exit to fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The former world no.1 has been awarded a wild card into the Olympic Games so it wasn’t his Wimbledon farewell but it’s doubtful whether he will contest the Championships again. “I’d have loved to have four guys win in the first round, but it just didn’t happen,” Woodbridge said. “But I have to reiterate, that a year ago at Wimbledon we had the best tournament that we’ve had in some time.”

“We’ll have tournaments like this and we’ll have good ones, my role is to continue to get that depth rolling through so we don’t have this happen.

“We know underneath us that we’ve got more kids with more ability that are solid players coming through.We’re actually rolling through a group of players so that sort of thing doesn’t happen again, but that still takes time.”

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  1. Belgium May Extend Some Nuclear Capacity, Tribune Says + more Belgium News - Encompass News says:
    June 27, 2012 at 10:55 pm

    […] Australian Men Shocked to Be Out of Wimbledon Competition To compound the shame, Tomic was booed off court following his defeat by Belgium 's Wimbledon debutant David Goffin. The 19-year-old who last year became … Read more on 10sBalls […]







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