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The nominations for the 2015 Newcombe Medal were announced late last week and with it came the welcome news of history in the making.
The medal will be awarded next Monday night at a glamorous event at the Crown Casino and for the first time in the medal’s five-year history an athlete with a disability has been nominated.
Fittingly, this distinction goes to the world’s number one male wheelchair tennis player, Dylan Alcott.
The criteria for the Newcombe Medal are not limited to the most outstanding player, but include those who have also been ambassadors for Australian tennis. This is an important distinction, and there is little doubt that the six nominees all fit these two key criteria.
Dylan Alcott
Sporting success seems to be second nature to Alcott. Aside from tennis, the 24-year-old played in the Australia men’s basketball team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, where he won gold, and at London 2012, where he won silver.
He moved back to tennis in 2014 and is firmly setting his sights on more medals in Rio next year.
Alcott’s 2015 has been outstanding, winning eight titles – two of which were Grand Slams. The year got off to a cracking start with his maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open, and was nicely bookended with victory at the US Open.
Alcott is my tip for the Newcombe Medal. He has had a stellar year and a win will round this out nicely.
John Peers
Peers has also had an exceptional season with his doubles partner Jamie Murray, and the two are currently competing at the World Tour Finals in London for the first time. The London competition pits the best eight men’s doubles teams against each other and, as with the singles, it is a round-robin format.
Peers has found a niche for himself in doubles and 2015 has been his most successful season, reaching a career-high doubles ranking of seven in the world.
He and Murray began the year by winning the Brisbane International and the pair finished runners up at Wimbledon and the US Open. They made back-to-back quarter-finals at the Madrid and Rome Masters 1000 events, and the final of Rotterdam after getting in as lucky losers.
Sam Groth
Groth had a breakout 2014, making it into the top 100 for the first time, and this year was about consolidation, reaching his highest singles ranking – number 53 – in August. In February he also reached his highest doubles ranking, 24.
He was also integral to Australia’s Davis Cup success in 2015.
The tie in Darwin against Kazakhstan was a reminder that while there is hope and potential in our younger players, it is experience that often wins out. Groth and Lleyton Hewitt led Australia’s revival from 2-0 down.
It’s impossible not to admire Groth. After taking time away from the sport a few years ago, he’s come back to give professional tennis one last shot, and what a shot he’s having.
He may have finished his 2015 season early due to injury, but should Groth leave with the Newcombe Medal around his neck on Monday I doubt there would be too many disappointed.
Casey Dellacqua
The West Australian, and perennial favourite of Australian tennis fans, has been nominated for the fourth year in a row. In singles Dellacqua hasn’t quite followed up her 2014 season, although she did have her best showing at Wimbledon, reaching the third round.
However, on the doubles front she successfully partnered up with Yaroslava Shvedova and reached a career-high doubles ranking of five in the world.
This year Dellacqua, with Shvedova, won her first doubles title at a mandatory event in Madrid, bringing her tally to four WTA doubles titles. The pair also made the doubles finals of the French.
Dellacqua is the classic Australian battler. She’s come back from injuries that at one point threatened to end her career to finish a successful 2014 in the top 30. She has made the final of six women’s doubles Grand Slams, although she is yet to win one. However, she is not completely devoid of Grand Slam winners trophies, having won the mixed doubles at the 2011 French Open.
Dellacqua’s best chance at the Newcombe Medal was possibly last year, where I had her as my favourite to win. With the stellar seasons that Alcott and Peers in particular have had, it’s unlikely she’ll leave the winner.
Sam Stosur
The Queenslander is also up for her fourth nomination. Stosur won the first three Newcombe Medals and although she won two titles this year at Strasbourg and Gastein, as well as having her best showing at Wimbledon, I doubt she’ll win this year.
Thanasi Kokkinakis
The South Australian youngster is transitioning well from junior to elite tennis. It’s really hard to not like him. Unlike his fellow young Australian tennis peers, Kokkinakis has a much quieter way of going about his game and letting the results speak for themselves.
Like his fellow nominees, he has had a standout season with new milestones, notably reaching his highest ranking of 71 in August.
This year Kokkinakis made the semis of the doubles of the Brisbane International, partnering with Grigor Dimitrov. He also made it to the fourth round at Indian Wells, as well as to the third round at the French Open, defeating compatriot Bernard Tomic along the way (and few readers of the Melbourne edition of the now defunct MX could forget those tasty headlines).
This year’s nominees of the Newcombe Medal are all worthy of the award and they all fit the criteria of ‘outstanding’ players and ‘ambassadors’ of the sport.
Nevertheless, there can only be one winner and I’m hoping it’s a win as historic as the nomination.
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