One Step Short... Again

I would really, really be lying if I didn't say that I was disappointed.

Belgium was an eminently beatable opponent for Australia. But once again, we proved that we just really don't have the depth. Rochus, Darcis and Bemelmans really does not make a worldbeating Davis Cup team - nowhere close. But apparently Hewitt, Luczak and Ball... well, that's even worse.

It really highlights the dependency of the Australian team on Lleyton Hewitt, which is incredibly dangerous. Even if he'd been able to play, I don't think he would have had much success - he came so close to losing to Bemelmans that I really didn't see him coming through Rochus. But Luczak should have been able to make things happen. And Ball... well, I think people just expect a lot more of him than he's capable of, to tell the truth. He and Guccione make a great doubles team, but I just don't know if he's ever going to be any more than that.

Australia really can't rely on Lleyton. He's been so good for so long, but come on, the dude's been on his way down for years. We can't manufacture talent out of nowhere, but we need to stop pinning all our hopes on one guy so much - it's not fair to him. This is exactly what is going to happen to Bernard Tomic and Jason Kubler, if they ever make good on their respective immense talents - reliance, to the detriment of the squad. And then we're going to end up like the UK, losing to Lithuania.

I suppose there's nothing really you can do. If you don't have the players, you just don't have the players. And I think the venue decision was as smart as it possibly could have been - the hot, steamy conditions of Cairns should really have benefited the Australians. But it just didn't happen. Story of Davis Cup in Australia for a long time now.

Better Than Great Britain

Let's do a tennis feelgood story. Specifically, let's talk about the Australian Davis Cup team. I'm not normally extraordinarily nationalistic when it comes to tennis, but watching the progress of both our national teams this year has made me happy.

Sure, we may only be second tier, but the Australian Davis Cup team has not lost a rubber this year. Sure, we've been facing Chinese Taipei and Japan respectively, who are not exactly known to be tennis powerhouses, but not one single rubber. That seems to me to be pretty impressive. We have had the added advantage of playing at home, but nonetheless. Not one. That's awesome.

And it's not as if we've been a one man show, either. We've had Lleyton Hewitt do some heroics, we've had some from Carsten Ball, Peter Luczak, Bernard Tomic... for the first time in a long time, the Davis Cup team is beginning to attain something that almost looks like depth. And with players like Greg Jones and Nick Lindahl waiting in the wings and players like Jason Kubler and Luke Saville on the rise... the future is looking bright.

Not that I expect the Aussies to win Davis Cup anytime soon or anything. We have a ways to go before we're even in contention - if we get an unfriendly draw, then we'll have zero hopes of being the grown up group next year. But we're edging our way towards something a bit good - and certainly we're doing very respectably.

We're not going the way of Great Britain, that's for sure. Well done, boys, on a fabulous tie over the weekend. And if the world group playoff is in Australia, you can bet I will be there with bells on.

Mantilla Comes Down Under

I was reading Australian Tennis Magazine yesterday and I was reading an article about Jason Kubler, who, as we know, has been given a wildcard into the Australian Open, despite the fact he is only sixteen. I knew that he was a junior Davis Cup hero for Australia, but what I didn't know was that he was a claycourt specialist - apparently he's being called a right-handed Rafa.

How about that?

And then I was reading another article about Peter Luczak, currently Australia's second ranked man, and his favourite surface is clay too. This one I did know, but had completely forgotten, due to Luczak not really being on my radar.

And now Tennis Australia has gone and hired Felix Mantilla to help bring all our young talent to Slam glory in the future - specifically on clay.

And I said... awesome!

There's this notion that Aussies are totally crap on clay, and, sure, we don't have the bestest group of claycourters ever, but we so don't suck. Not only is there Luczak, but Stosur was the best performing Aussie at the Slams this year with her semi finish in Roland Garros. And we have a great group of youngsters coming up, kids like Kubler - actually, I read a really interesting fact which I did not know: Australia has the top 17 year old, 16 year old and 15 year old in the world (Bernard Tomic, Jason Kubler and Luke Saville). So hiring Mantilla is really a great idea, I think - it will maximise the potential of these youngsters, who might have clay talent but not the opportunity to play on it so much.

So great move, Tennis Australia. Applause everywhere from me!

Wild About the Wildcards

Discretionary wildcards for the Australian Open have just been announced! I held off writing for today until they had been, due to having not much else to say.

There aren't any epically huge surprises. As we know, the playoff winners were Casey Dellacqua and Nick Lindahl, so they're in. Discretionaries in the women go to Alicia Molik and Olivia Rogowska. Gee, I am surprised there. There's still one more to be announced - presumably closer to the date - which I am really hoping goes to Monika Wejnert. But I don't think it will surprise anyone that Molik and Rogowska get these cards. Rogowska is definitely the player that deserves it most, based on her play over the last year. And if Tennis Australia is going to refuse a name like Molik...

Over to the men, and we have cards for Bernard Tomic (my brother saw me write this, and said 'yeah! he rules!' then told me I had to write it down, so I did), Carsten Ball and Jason Kubler. I had completely forgotten about the existence of Carsten Ball, but he did do pretty well on the ATP tour - he made a final at tour level and must have been pretty close to making main draw anyway. (But why didn't he play the playoff? Lame.)

I would have thought for sure that the remaining wildcard would go to Brydan Klein, but I am totally delighted about the fact that it went to Jason Kubler. Kubler is sixteen and one of the nation's brightest stars - I understand he was a bit of a junior Davis Cup hero. Great work on this one, Craig Tiley - really awesome choice! I think this'll probably be Kubler's first tour level match, and what better place for it to come than at the Open.

There is also one more male wildcard to be handed out closer to the date. I think it'll probably go to Brydan Klein, but I would love to see it go to Greg Jones. His play at the December Showdown totally merits it.

Why Do We Need An Off Season Again?

So now we've entered the toughest time of year for any tennis blogger - the time when hey! guess what?! there's no tennis.

Well, this isn't strictly true. We do have London coming up in a few days, and that will be totally exciting. But for this week, and after that, it's the barren wasteland known as the off season, when we all twiddle our thumbs, look awkwardly at each other and say, 'what now?'

For now, we can talk about London. After that - I remember last year that I talked a lot about Australian tennis and young up and coming players, and that seemed to work out pretty well. I became a total connoisseur of people I'd never really seen play, which was pretty sweet - and that's where I first encountered Olivia Rogowska, who is, as we know, a young Aussie girl coming up through the ranks and who has got a pretty neat game. She's currently best known for very-nearly-almost defeating Dinara Safina in the first round of the US Open this year... but I really hope and really believe that this will not be her biggest claim to fame in the future, because she's got game, and women's tennis in Australia is in better shape right now than it has been for a while and...

...yeah. Can't use up all my best material before December's even started! What would that look like?

But one last parting shot for today - Jason Kubler. There seems to be a lot of buzz around him in Australian tennis at the moment. Who is he? I have no friggin' clue. But I'm going to find out. And I bet your interest is piqued now, hmmm? Don't you want to keep reading just to find out who he is?

...please?