The unbelievable effort under extreme duress shown by Andy Murray in his first-round loss to Roberto Bautista Agut was courage personified.
To see Murray to fight back from two sets down and give everything he possibly could, even when he was clearly struggling with his hip injury, was both inspiring and emotional, to say the least.
Nobody would have thought any less of Murray had he conceded defeat, but that’s not part of his DNA. It’s a pity some of our Australian male tennis players don’t have Murray’s desire and will to win.
While I’m sure we all marvelled at Murray’s heroics, it also probably made some of us wish Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrigos would take a leaf out of the books of great role models like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Murray, to name but a few, instead of constantly throwing tantrums and conceding matches.
How many times over the years have we seen both Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios pull out of tournaments when the going gets tough?
The reluctance of the International Tennis Federation to either suspend or fine Tomic and Kyrigos a substantial amount of money over the years for their repeated indiscretions has only fueled their unsportsmanlike behaviour.
During the Australian Open we have a war of words between Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt playing out in the media when we should be admiring and focusing on the superb feats of other Australian tennis players, namely Ash Barty, Alex de Minaur, Alex Bolt, Alexei Popyrin and Kimberly Birrell.
Until Tennis Australia shows some real leadership and fortitude, the petulant antics and lack of respect for tennis officialdom by players like Tomic and Kyrigos will only continue to tarnish the sport in this country.
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