How good is Ash Barty?! Meh.
The 22-year-old tried her guts out and made it further in her home grand slam than any Aussie woman in almost ten years.
But that still meant getting knocked out in the quarter-finals.
And yes, yes, she beat Maria Sharapova along the way, but the Russian has come back from her drug ban a shadow of her former self. That’s not to say beating the ex-world number one is to be dismissed out of hand, but Barty has a higher ranking than Sharapova – she was supposed to win that match.
The reality check came in the form of a straight-sets smackdown courtesy of Petra Kvitová.
Alright, but what about Alex De Minaur!?
Well, um, yeah, what about him?
One of Fox Sports News’ anchors asked their reporter on the ground at Melbourne Park: “Geez, wouldn’t it have been a boilover if he’d beaten Rafa Nadal?”
Yeah, it sure would have. Except De Minaur didn’t so much as bother Nadal, the Spaniard dispatching our local hope in straight sets.
A boilover was never even remotely on the cards – it was about as worthwhile as asking, “Geez, wouldn’t the world be a different place if the planet was actually flat?”
So the Demon was sent packing in the third round.
That was also the case with De Minaur’s fellow teenage-hopeful Alexei Popyrin, and our other wildcard entry, Alex Bolt.
Popyrin and Bolt received a bit of hype on the back of their wildcard status – and, to be fair, the third round is a respectable showing – but the excitement was fuelled more by the fact that they played after De Minaur had already been knocked out, and thus were our last hopes in the men’s draw.
So while we cheered throughout the first week of the Australian Open, we were left without a local hope pretty early on in the second.
Now, I don’t want to be the tennis Grinch here, and I understand that when the global game’s attention is directed towards our shores, it’s important we put our players in the spotlight.
But I wonder how excited we’d be about any of these players – mostly youngsters who have potential, but are a long way from turning it into grand slam trophies – were it not for the calibre of personality we’ve had served up in recent years.
Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios were our great hopes for big things, but it’s become abundantly clear that neither of them will live up to their potential.
While both are still relatively young, the attitude they’ve shown over the years ensures they’ll never fulfil their immense promise.
Never.
As for the Aussie women, when it comes to the trophies that matter, Sam Stosur’s 2011 US Open victory is actually the country’s most recent grand slam title.
The last one an Aussie claimed before that was Lleyton Hewitt’s 2002 win at Wimbledon, which was preceded less than 12 months earlier with his victory at the US Open.
And that’s been it for the 21st Century – three titles of a possible 77 (and that’s including the year 2000, which will be controversial among calendar experts).
So it’s probably not unfair that for so long, Stosur and Lleyton – especially Lleyton – were held up as our best chance of turning that into four titles.
But as retirement and the sheer weight of disappointing performances made it clear neither were going to win another one of tennis’ four major tournaments, we shifted expectations to the next generation – mainly Tomic and Kyrgios.
And how did that pan out? Yeah, so well that at the age of 26 and 23 respectively, we’re already looking at the next next generation.
So when teenagers De Minaur and Popyrin, as well as the 22-year-old Barty showed a bit of fight, got some decent results, and didn’t act like complete tools, we went a little bit nuts.
(AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)
And with time on their side, as well as what seems to be the ethic and attitude required to make the most of their obvious talent, one of these players could very well claim Australia’s fourth grand slam title since the year 2000 (1998 really, since that was Pat Rafter’s last win at Flushing Meadows).
But not get too far ahead of ourselves in the meantime. Because y’know which other men made the third round of the Aussie Open? Scott Draper, Wayne Arthurs and Sam Groth.
And which women made the quarters? Alicia Molik and Jelena Dokic.
All of them were solid professionals who made a decent career on the court, but they’re blasts from the past rather than legends of Aussie tennis.
And at this stage, that’s all our next wave of talent have managed.
So while we’re right to get behind them, let’s also keep a lid on things until they show us whether they’re champions like Stosur and Hewitt, or decent triers like Groth and Molik.
Or – heaven forbid, but there’s still time – wankers like Tomic and Kyrgios.
northerner
Guest
To be fair, Kyrgios and Tomic are regularly pilloried for not "trying hard." I don't personally have an issue with looking for the "next big thing," especially when the last couple of "next big things" have turned out to be pretty disappointing.
Simoc
Guest
Seems it's you that is out of touch Fionn. The article is accurate. Our boys just make up the numbers while Ash Barty has got what it takes to make it to the top. Just needs to develop weapons or a weapon but even now with a favourable draw she could go deep in a Grand Slam. I think she will be our next Grand Slam winner and as we see they are few and far between in the professional era.
Ben
Roar Guru
Correct to a point. It was a reasonably positive comment, with some good constructive criticism. I stopped reading it after I seen the hypocrisy in the first four sentences. Tomic and Kyrios may seem like very undesirable sportsmen. But to be 'pleased' that they didn't make it to the third round is as negative as one can be.
jamesb
Roar Guru
If you read my entire post, rather than picking and choosing which parts you want to highlight, then you will find that it was a positive post about Australian tennis.
CJ
Guest
What would be interesting would be a more in depth analysis of how our juniors programmes can improve.
Ben
Roar Guru
I'm speaking of society rewarding mediocrity. It wasn't that long ago (10 years or so and previous to that) that an Australian tennis player wouldn't get anymore than a 10 second call-out on the news and a little write-up in the paper for passing the first round of a grand slam. With more praise coming as they progressed to the bigger games, like finals. These days, all it takes is for a player to pass the first or second round, and they're seemingly thrown into stardom as "the next big thing". This is the new "standard" that is set for Australian children wanting to be professional tennis players. A standard where winning tournaments comes a distant second to "trying hard"...
torchbearer
Guest
Barty is a league above Minaur and the men named. She is in the Top 16 (and the big assistance that gives in Grand Slams), she won the year-end title last year for the world number 9-20, she has beaten Top 10 players a dozen times (including World Number 1 in Sydney)...she has contested 5 Grand Slam doubles finals (and won one). Whether she can win 7 matches and a Grand Slam, we will see, but she is a million miles closer than the men.
peeeko
Roar Guru
fans gets excited during out home grand slam and you think they are do gooders? who is being pandered too? issues?
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Clearly not particularly closely.
Gordon Smith
Guest
Actually I follow tennis very closely and thought the article was spot on.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
I get the impression you don’t follow tennis particularly closely. I think you should follow it a bit more, before writing something like this. That’s all I have to say on the matter.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Finishing top 8 is not meh. It’s the equivalent of making the final of the 100m at the Olympics. Ranked 15, Barry surpassed the expectations of her ranking. Molik and dokic were both ranked top 10 at one point. That’s very decent.
Ben
Roar Guru
Good article, looking at the issue objectively. There are not enough critic's, and too many do-gooders in this day and age. Success is a byproduct of hard work and perciverence, not being pandered to.
Ben
Roar Guru
"Pretty negative article". Then followed up with, "And the most pleasing thing was that Tomic and Kyrgios were not amongst those five players"...
Kim Nawell
Guest
Not negative comments at all, just reality. If you look at history Grand Slam winners have usualy made an impact by the time they are nineteen or twenty. An impact meaning quarters or semis in a Grand Slam. Our best hope is Ash Barty but she is still a long shot to take out a Slam. The others won't Im sure. Good tennis players granted and a couple will hang around in the top twenty which is great but that will be it. Geez I hope I'm proved wrong but thats reality. Maybe the Australian summer media hype machine should have a rule, dont turn the dile up unless we have a top ten player.
Sanjay Poojar
Guest
India has many good player You wait
David Holden
Roar Guru
A bit harsh, I think. Barty is only 22 after a couple of years off and De Minaur and Popyrin are only 19. I think Popyrin has the best potential of the lot and could be top 10 within 2-3 years
jamesb
Roar Guru
Pretty negative article. I thought the Australian players did alright. There were five players that made it to the 3 rd round. And the most pleasing thing was that Tomic and Kyrgios were not amongst those five players. I don’t blame the Australian public going nuts when they see a good performance from a local. In the last five or six years, Australian tennis fans have only experienced disappointment with Tomic and Kyrgios. Barty can improve her game. Tennis coach Roger Rasheed said that Barty needs to improve her backhand and use it as a weapon, rather then bringing the ball back in play. While with De Minaur, it’s pretty obvious. He needs to go to the gym and bulk up. Get some power in his game. Nadal is only two centimetres taller, and yet by comparison to De Minaur, he looks like a beast. If you move away from Tomic and Kyrgios, there is some promise with other players.
bazza200
Roar Rookie
Its good we get behind our players yeah they might not win the title but its at least good to see them win a few rounds. Its a world game tough to be the best
Andrew Johnson
Guest
I think you also missed the fact that Barty beat the world number one the week before in Sydney, she’s improving at a rate of notes and is a genuine top ten player, but meh!