Taking part in pub trivia last night, the question came up ‘which Australian men did Roger Federer defeat in the 2014 US Open?’
My team immediately put down Lleyton Hewiit and Bernard Tomic.
I said, “I’m pretty sure it was Sam Groth and Marinko Matosevic.”
Cue blank stares.
“Yeah Groth was serving really well and really took it up to Roger,” I said. “And Matosevic was once our highest ranked male.”
Nothing, not even someone saying, “No, they have to be Australian.”
With the summer of tennis quickly approaching, most of us are looking forward to watching young gun Nick Kyrgios tear up the court, cheering on Hewitt in what could be his last Australian summer of tennis, seeing if Sam Stosur can turn her home form around, and whether Tomic starts playing well – jumping on then quickly off the bandwagon.
But seeing whether or not Marinko makes it past the first round? Maybe not so much.
I went to the launch of the Brisbane International and a Tennis Queensland rep said she wasn’t a massive fan of Marinko. She said he’s a bit of bad boy, lacking respect.
It drew to mind his outburst against the chair umpire in the match against Nicholas Mahut in the first round of the Western and Southern Open. On match point the chair umpire overruled a Matosevic ace; after Matosevic won the match on his second serve he berated the chair umpire and spit on the court.
Marinko also for a while had the unenviable record of never making it out of the first round of a major, despite five years of trying! It was only this year he made it to the second round of the French Open and Wimbledon.
While currently ranked 76, he was ranked as high as 39 in February last year. He is our fourth best male tennis player behind Hewitt, Kyrgios and Tomic.
So if Marinko gets his Australian summer off to a good start, will he become more than just a shrug at a pub trivia event?
At the very least, will we learn to pronounce his name correctly?
Lesley C
Guest
The sad fact is that a few of our talented players seem to adopt badboy behaviour like it is part of the identity. One is loathe to support them at all. Some of the things Matosevic has said to the media and on court are outrageous. Some concessions are made for younger players - though I don't agree we should forgive tantrums in some 19 year old simply because they have a massive serve - but Matosevic is 28. C'mon....
Rob G
Guest
Maddog matosevic has the unenviable position of being the only person harder to like that bernard tomic. Some of the ridiculous stuff he has done is beyond belief. For example who yells and swears at a crowd for not cheering for him....does he really think that will work.