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AllFlying |
Is there
a future for Australian women's tennis?
With the Australian Open around the corner in January 2006, Australia
is longing, perhaps in vain, for some home-grown female tennis stars to shine.
Jacqueline Scott comments on the current performances of our elite female tennis
players and asks the question that so many Australian's are demanding to know;
how long will it be before Australian women are again a competitive force on the
international tennis tour?  Sadly,
it is not since the glory days of Margaret Court or Evonne Goolagong Cawley that
an Australian woman has won a Grand Slam singles title on the professional tennis
circuit.
Even more lamentable is the fact that in the last 20 years, Australian
women have rarely cracked the top ten in world rankings.
While the likes of
Pat Cash, Lleyton Hewitt, Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis have kept the
men's game interesting for Australian supporters, the lacklustre performances
of our females has signified a worrying trend.
So what is the future of women's
tennis in Australia? Will the new breed of talent ever come close to emulating
the performances of Court and Goolagong Cawley? And how long will it be before
an Australian woman can win another Grand Slam title?
State
of play
Currently, Alicia Molik seems to be the only Australian female
making a significant impact in the higher ranks of international tennis tour as
a singles player.
Although Molik is yet to win a Grand Slam title, she has
had some notable recent performances, and has seemingly revitalised Australia's
hopes for a female tennis champion.
Molik made the fourth-round at the Australian
Open in 2003 and then again in 2004, and at this time held the WTA Tour world
ranking of no. 9.
Molik's ranking has since dropped out of the top ten after
she was forced to miss Wimbledon and the French Open after contracting an inner-ear
infection that causes lethargy and balance problems.
Then in late October this
year Molik announced her withdrawal from the tour because of the same condition
that forced her to miss these two Grand Slams.
Molik's ranking has now dropped
to no. 23 as she takes a break to recover from the ailment.
As our highest-ranking
female, Alicia Molik carries with her the hopes of a nation and with her withdrawal
from the tour Australia wishes someone else could rise to the challenge, but who?
Apart
from Molik the only other Australian player in the top 100 is Samantha Stosur,
who currently holds the singles WTA tour ranking of no. 52.
It seems unlikely
that our other female players will surprise us with their performances and will
be a competitive force in the highest ranks of women's tennis in Molik's absence.
Although we wish all Australian players success, Molik seems to be our best
(and maybe only) chance for Grand Slam victory because it is becoming increasingly
difficult for those outside the top 20 to be winning major tournaments.
The
recent withdrawal of Molik from the professional circuit has highlighted the lack
of Australian females in the highest ranks of the international tour.
And
now we are all left to wonder, why? Power
& glory
The power game that in recent years has proliferated in the
women's tour may be one reason why Australian women have been absent in the highest
ranks of international tennis.
There is no doubt that physical strength is
now an essential attribute for any aspiring female tennis player wishing to become
a Grand Slam winner or to even crack the top ten.
It seems the tour is becoming
increasingly segmented with regard to the physical capabilities of players of
a higher ranking compared to those with a lower ranking.
Take the current women's
top ten for example.
Some very strong women currently dominate the top ten
WTA tour rankings including Lindsay Davenport (no.1), Kim Clijsters (no.2), Amelie
Mauresmo (no.4), Mary Pierce (no.5) and Venus Williams (no.7).
Perhaps one
exception is the seemingly smaller Maria Sharapova, who currently holds the no.
3 ranking.
But undoubtedly this girl still possesses the physical strength
needed to be competitive- she stands 1.88m tall and the grunts we hear at her
matches provides evidence about exactly how physical the female game has become.
Another
exception could be Justine Henin-Hardenne but her superb tactical skills seem
to compensate for her petite stature.
Former Australian tennis player Rachael
McQuillan told the 7.30 Report in 2002 that when she started her professional
tennis career in the early 1990s the power game “wasn't quite there”.
McQuillan
earned more than $1.5 million on the international tennis tour, played for her
country in two Olympics and numerous Fed Cups and during her career reached a
world singles ranking of no. 28 in 1991.
“I mean the power game was only
there in the top, maybe five players, it really from 15 down to 200 [in world
ranking] was just really winnable,” McQuillan said.
“And I find now
you just get blown away by a lot of these young ones that are coming out. And
they're just so strong,”
“And I'd hate to see in the next ten years
where its going to be at because, you know, it seems to be the way its going,”
she said.
McQuillian's prediction seems to have come fruition because it is
often true that the physical strength of a player, in most circumstances, is what
separates the champions from the rest of the female tour.
Director of Player
Development at Tennis Australia Craig Tiley understands that supreme athletic
capabilities are important to any aspiring tennis champion and says that developmental
programs may need to take a different tact when recruiting potential champions.
Tiley
has been recently appointed to the Player Development position and has been hired
to generate success and a new generation of tennis champions.
Tiley has had
an esteemed coaching career and captained the South African Davis Cup team from
1998 - 2001.
“Right now, we're getting tennis players into tennis. We
need to get athletes into tennis. We must provide events and programs that identify
athletes first,” Tiley said.
One new initiative from Tennis Australia
is called the Talent Identification Program and will work in co-ordination with
the talent identification programs of the states.
Tiley says the program will
focus on players who “love playing tennis, love competing and who have a
great work ethic.”
“You can have a non-athlete with these qualities
who becomes a good player. But if you have an athlete, then you have a champion,”
Tiley said.
By filtering those that have the raw talent and physical capabilities
to compete on the international tour into our national development programs, Tennis
Australia hopes to combat the power game that faces our elite female tennis players.
This,
at least, is a good start for the restoration of women's tennis in Australia. Will
to win
Apart from the power game, it is obvious that desire and determination
are necessary attributes for a female tennis champion.
However, to be successful
on the international tennis tour the necessary extent of this desire may be increasing
because of the ultra-competitive world of contemporary tennis.
Many players
now possess a 'win at all costs' attitude, but do the up and coming Australian
players automatically adopt this type of mantra?
Generally speaking, Australian
players may not need the international tennis tour as a vehicle to escape an oppressive
lifestyle.
Therefore, it may follow that Australia does not breed players
that develop the adequate level of determination to succeed on the competitive
tennis tour because they are not generally desperate to leave their nation of
origin.
Take for example, the elite players coming out of Russia, of which
there are 6 in the top 20.
Alicia Molik, though herself displaying a strong
sense of determination, suggests that young Australian tennis players may not
possess a burning desire to win when compared with Russian athletes.
“Maybe
the difference is that young kids in Russia maybe have burning desire to get out
of the country. They fight hard, they train many, many hours a day, and maybe
it's a different culture here,” Molik told the ABC's 7.30 Report early in
2005.
“Australia's such a fantastic country, we have great choice, we
have such a high standard of living- that at the end of the day, if you don't
make it as a professional athlete, it doesn't mean a hell of a lot, whereas maybe
in some other countries, I think it's more of a necessity,” she said.
But
it must be clearly noted that despite the fact that some players use tennis to
escape oppressive upbringings, this does not necessarily rule out success for
Australian players.
The new development programs to be implemented by Tennis
Australia aim to foster the type of burning desire necessary for international
success.
Craig Tiley said that under the new system all players would be held
more specifically accountable for their own behaviour, attitude, efforts and approach
to intense training.
“The athletes will be expected to meet the standards
of the program. The program will not be lowered to the athlete's standards,”
he said.
The attributes of determination, ambition and passion to succeed
seem, as always, to be in the hands of the individual competitor. Player
development
Despite the variables of athleticism and determination that
invariably shape the successes of an elite tennis player, performances on an international
scale are almost certainly dependant upon the domestic structures in place for
those who have the will to win and the ambition to succeed.
Tennis Australia
recognises this and is wholly dedicated to the development of our future female
players.
As stated before, the organisation has recently appointed Craig Tiley
as the new Director of Player Development and he plans to implement a number of
new objectives.
Mr Tiley said there has “been a number of factors”
holding Australian females back on the professional circuit.
Tiley said one
such factor is that there has not been a wholly integrated and co-ordinated program
for developing players.
Tiley said that as a result of this Tennis Australia
plans to create new National High Performance Academies, which will be located
in major metropolitan locations.
The academies will divide Australia into five
catchment areas of development and Tiley said they will “bring our best players
together as much as possible.”
“By doing this we can provide them
with the services and resources they need but, also, we can be more directly responsible
for their development,” he said.
The academies will work with state tennis
programs, which will serve as a feed-in system of elite players to the national
academies.
Another key change for player development is the creation of the
Home-Base Program in Europe, which will provide an Australian base for training,
rather than a European base that Australians occupy.
Tiley said another area
that is currently being addressed is the promotion of tennis to young female athletes.
“We
need to look at what some of the other sports are doing like netball, swimming
or gymnastics and we have to do a better job of identifying talent and then providing
the talent with a pathway,” he said.
Tiley said that another problem
with the progression of women's tennis in Australia is that in the past there
has generally been more emphasis placed on the male game.
“Tennis has
been predominately in the past, up until the last 20 years or so, a male dominated
sport,” Tiley said.
“But I think the tide has changed and now you
can find female matches and events that gain as much attention and television
coverage, if not more, than the male matches,” he said.
Tiley also aims
to increase the level of domestic competition by creating more Australian Money
Tournaments as well as initiating playoffs for Wildcard opportunities.
“A
critical element to a player's development is consistent quality competition.
It's our goal to create that type of environment here in Australia throughout
the year,” Tiley said.
Tiley said that it is only a matter of time before
the new generation of female stars will be more successful on an international
scale and that Tennis Australia is dedicated to the development of up and coming
players.
Tiley said he is “particularly excited” about the potential
that some junior females are displaying.
Mr Tiley said the Head Coach of the
High Performance Academy, and former Australian tennis player, Jason Stoltenberg,
“feels that there are some female athletes that really have a great deal
of talent and should soon come out and shine for us.”
“With the rich
tradition and international success of tennis in Australia, it is our goal to
develop the next generation of champions,” Tiley said.
“We in Australia
have had some excellent female champions like Margaret Court and Evonne Goologong-Cawley
and we want to create that environment again, it would be great if we could again
get that type of success.”
It is certain that any female tennis star that
can win for Australia would receive the undying support of this sport-loving nation.
Ideally, the patriotic chant “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!”
will not be merely be reserved for Lleyton Hewitt matches, but will be more regularly
heard during female competition.
But more importantly, Australian's would love
to see Australian females being more competitive on the female tour - or to use
an Australian cliché, to be “giving it a go” at an international
level.
According to Craig Tiley the future of women's tennis in Australia is
bright and he said Australia has “all the ingredients for success.”
It seems, however, that new initiatives for the development of women's tennis,
once implemented, need time to progress before success on an international scale
may be realised.
So don't hold your breath, Australia, because we may be waiting
a while. By
Jacqui Scott Nov
2005 References
and Links
Tennis Australia “The Way Forward: Player Development”
http://www.tennisaustralia.com.au/pages/default.aspx?id=4&PageID=7941
WTA
Tour- the Official Site of the Sony Ericson WTA Tour
http://www.wtatour.com/
The
7.30 Report ABC “Tennis Craving Australian Female Star”
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2002/s458300.htm The
7.30 Report ABC “Alicia Molik Fires up at the Grand Slam”
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1288327.htm
The
Age Online
“Stricken Molik to quit game” - http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/stricken-molik-to-quit-game/2005/10/21/1129775960968.html
“Molik
to take extended break” - http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/molik-to-take-extended-break/2005/10/22/1129775985399.html
“Molik
may miss 2006”- http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/molik-may-miss2006/2005/10/24/1130006049797.html
“Molik
may never return, says neurologist” - http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/molik-may-never-return-says-neurologist/2005/10/24/1130006062394.html
“Molik
to lend ear to advice” - http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/molik-to-lend-ear-to-advice/2005/10/27/1130400307422.html
“Stosur
to play Hopman Cup” - http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/stosur-to-play-hopman-cup/2005/10/29/1130400403141.html
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