I've been wondering for a little while what's gone wrong with Australian tennis ?
Men : No 1 = Lleyton Hewitt ( world ranked 14 ), No 2 = Peter Luczak ( 120 )
Women : No 1 = Samantha Stosur ( 55 ), No 2 = Nicole Pratt ( 133 )
I can remember the days when there were a host of top Australian players. Does anyone know how things have got so bad ? What is being done to try and arrest this decline ?
Supplementary question ! - what is wrong with male sport in general in Australia at the moment ??
1) Tennis - as above
2) Cricket - lost the Ashes ( and who's going to replace Glen McGrath and Shane Warne ? )
3) Rugby Union - bottom of 2005 tri- nations, losing all 6 games, in fact in all recently lost 7 successive internationals
4) Rugby League - lost 2005 tri-nations final to New Zealand
5) Swimming - 1 gold medal finally achieved in men's swimming in final day of Commonwealth Games swimming in Melbourne ( Scotland won 4 )
Just like it though if the Socceroos go and win the World Cup in Germany !
I must admit that it is a welcome sight, finally we're handing out the trouncing to the Aussies which they've been giving us for so long !!!
Re Aussie tennis: The golden days of Rafter, Phillippousis, Hewitt, Arthurs, Stoltenburg, Stolle, Draper and the Woodbridges is long gone. I think there was always going to be a period like this for the Aussies as apart from Hewitt and Phillippousis there weren't any other Aussies of that generation threatening to break through. I did once think that Hewitt was going to dominate world tennis but that was before a certain Mr Federer made his move in 2003.
Todd Reid was once hyped as a future tennis star and received a lot of support and backing from Tennis Australia. Reid is an example of the well-known fact that top juniors don't always make top seniors. He was Wimbledon junior champion but has been unable to break through from the challengers to the ATP tour. He possesses a big game but a big forehand and a big serve isn't really enough as so many players have those weapons. I think that Reid maybe lacked the mental toughness required to break through.
Australia do have a promising talent in the shape of 20 year old Chris Guccione who's ranked 168 and reached rd3 of Queens last year, taking a set off Henman. Guccione possesses a massive left-handed serve and is a great volleyer. I'd defiantely rate him as a future top 100 player.
I'm a big fan of Todd Reid, and he has been so unlucky. He reached number 105 in the world I think, two years ago, but then he got struck down by Glandular Fever which has been hindering him ever since, it just keeps catching up with him. Then he had a bad ankle injury which needed surgery. It was all so unlucky as he was on the verge of a big break through. But now he's feeling very low and is finding it hard to deal with all the injuries. When I spoke to him at Queens last year he said he just needed to get his head straight and try to string some matches together. Unfortunately injury took hold again and he didn't play again until last week when he played a Futures in Aus. He won a match this week and lost a very close match to the number two seed. His ranking has dropped to outside 700 so he has a long way to climb back, but he's only 21, I'm sure he can make it. Go Todd!
Some people live in the dark ages. I saw quite a funny/sarcastic response on Twitter to this. It said something like "Does that mean the court will only be used for Mixed Doubles this year?".
Personally, I look forward to the day when society moves past its need to dictate who can love who, and just lets people get on with their lives. I think we are moving in the right direction, but there is a long way to go. And when a dinosaur sticks their head above the parapet to express these views, they only bring ridicule on themselves. What is she going to do if ALL airlines express the same opinion as QANTAS ? Catch a bus ?