Another one bites the dust as far as Samantha Stosur is concerned. Her first-round exit at the Australain Open might be a shock to some, but her early exits in tournaments in Brisbane and Sydney would suggest that she was out of form.
The reigning US Open champion, ranked sixth in the world, was beaten by Sorana Cirstea, ranked 59th. Cirstea is a player I and many other Australians hadn’t heard of before.
It has been asked before whether Stosur struggles with the pressure of being Australian at her own grand slam. Her best results have been two separate trips to the fourth round, yet overseas she has been a French Open semi-finalist and finalist, and won the US Open.
She’s the not the first Australian tennis player to have struggled at home but done well overseas. Pat Rafter reached the Australian Open semi-finals just once. Overseas, he won the US Open on two occasions, and reached the Wimbledon final twice before losing to Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic respectively.
Lleyton Hewitt reached the final once at the Australian Open, but was defeated by Marat Safin, Overseas, Hewitt won Wimbledon and the US Open.
Mark Philippoussis made the fourth round four times at the Australian open, but overseas was runner-up at both Wimbledon, beaten by Roger Federer, and in the US Open, where he lost to Rafter.
Already, young Bernard Tomic has made a quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon, which is his best slam result, but he is only 19, so it’s early days yet. Who knows, he may buck the trend.
Look at a player a like Great Britain’s Andy Murray. He encounters an enormous amount of hype and pressure whenever he appears at Wimbledon. He has reached the semi-finals three times at Wimbledon, but has appeared in two grand slam finals at the Australian Open as well as being runner-up in the US Open.
Maybe it’s fortunate for players like Federer (Switzerland), Rafael Nadal (Spain), and Novak Djokovic (Serbia) not to have the hype of playing in a home grand slam.
It’s all speculative. But for Australian players at home, the local media and the Open organisers all want a piece of them. Both the broadcasters and and the organisers want the Australians to do well so that the hype goes for majority of the two weeks.
However, what happens when all of the Australian players are vanquished by the first weekend? Well, like every year, we start barracking for the likes of Federer or Nadal.
But over hype for our local players can be annoying. Hearing Bruce McAvaney saying that Tomic’s win was a famous one was way over the top. Tomic defeated Verdasco in the first round, not Federer in a semi final. Get a grip, please.
It would be nice, if for one year, our local players did sneak under the radar. Perhaps let them play outside of Rod Laver Arena for a change, or try something different.
But the question remains.
Is over hype on the Australian players killing our chances of ever winning an Australian Open, or are our local players not good enough to handle the pressure?
I wonder what Sam Stosur thinks.
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