Tennis: Mistake Putting Bernard Tomic On Centre Court
January 22nd 2009 05:00
Fair enough putting the big names on centre court, but what were the organisers thinking, putting Bernard Tomic and Gilles Muller on centre court. Surely the pressure must have played a part in the 16 year old Tomic's defeat, and for that, the organisers must take some responsibility.
By dusk the big stars had gone. Defending champion Novak Djokovic, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic and the great Roger Federer had done their thing before you sat down to your dinner.
What was left for the night sky were Australians Jelena Dokic and Bernard Tomic. Dokic's life in general and in sport has been traumatic but she deserves everybody's sympathy. Her father was a mad man. She played Russian Anna Chakvetadze, the women's 17th seed. Fair enough that match be played on centre court.
Tomic is barely 16 years old and ranked 767th in the world. Gilles Muller is from Luxembourg and ranked just inside the top 100. He is well known to his family but remains a state secret everywhere else. This boy-versus-man match was played on centre court in prime television and spectator time. It is unlikely that in the history of grand slam tennis have two less qualified players been given the honour of the best spot on the daily calendar. Nor can any match have been more inappropriate for the timeslot no matter the result.
Craig Tiley is in charge of the development of Australian tennis and is tournament director of this Open. The question of what to do with the Australian teenager left him hopelessly compromised, especially since Channel Seven pushed hard for a little Tomic night music. Given the state of tennis in this country Tiley needs to decide on one job or the other. He is yet to live down the ludicrous decision to send Little Lleyton out on to court to play Marcos Baghdatis last year at 11.47pm for the pair not to finish their marathon match until 4.34am.
It is timely to remember that it was Hewitt who, after his first-round loss to Fernando Gonzalez on Tuesday, said this of Tomic: "Yeah, it was a great win by Bernard (four-set defeat of Italian Potito Starace) yesterday, but he's still got a long way to go before he's in the top hundred and playing in the other Slams, the other Masters series week in and week out. I could be retired by the time he gets to the top hundred. Who knows how long that will take, so ..."
It was a plea for caution from one former child prodigy to the handlers of the new whiz-kid. Sadly, it has not been heeded.
Tiley had the easy and far more appropriate opportunity of swapping the No8 seed, Argentian Juan Martin Del Porto's night match against Florian Mayer from the Hisense venue with the Tomic's match on Rod Laver Arena.
A swap could also have been made with the forgotten Australian Brydan Klein, 19, who was down to play the third match of the day on Show Court 2. At least his opponent was the seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, the 16th-ranked player in the world.
Playing Tomic in such an import slot was reckless and an unnecessary risk with the development of Australia's best young player. The result was immaterial, the danger of harming Tomic's career too great.
If you don't think last night's draw was a commercial contrivance then look at which players front the night audience on Rod Laver Arena tonight - Venus Williams, the No6 women's seed, and Andy Murray, No4 in the men's draw.
Klein, three years older than Tomic, lost in straight sets but he appears not far from making a fist of things on the tour. He fretted openly as the match slipped away from him on Show Court 3. But he might just be one win away from a prominent role in Australian tennis.
In sport, corners can be turned in a sudden stride if the self belief is overwhelming. At the moment Klein looks unconvinced that he has the respect of his opponents. He was the Australian junior champion before Tomic and is progressing slowly but without the drool that has drenched Tomic this tournament.
Wawrinka is a sweetly produced player with a good technique and patience to build then finish points precisely. He is 23 and was pleased to get past Klein whose inexperience he was able to exploit.
The top-heavy draw yesterday gave provided a day of interest nonetheless. No3 seed Dinara Safina lost the first set of her match against fellow Russian
Ekaterina Marakova. It forced a re-evaluation of her game. Immediately she became more aggressive, prepared to sacrifice consistency for winners.
She won quick enough, the third set for the loss of no games and in just 29 minutes.
She is prepared to hit 44 unforced errors as she did yesterday if it indicates she is hell-bent on dominating her opponent.
If she plays passively, she loses.
You fancy she is as volatile as her brother, though her new status in tennis means she is no longer regarded as Marat's young sister.
She is certainly as self-deprecating.
If she is not playing or practising, she is in her hotel room watching television.
There are no other options, a focus that she thinks might change as she matures.
After two days it is difficult to get a handle on the women's draw. Ana Ivanovic won comfortably over Italian Alberta Brianti. She feels she is getting better match by match and the rustiness of Brisbane is all but gone.
Like Safina she feels the key to her success is aggression. So, too, does world No1 Jelena Jankovic. She was the least impressive in defeating Kirsten Flipkens.
Jankovic was not perturbed. She, too, feels she is burrowing into the tournament and is becoming more comfortable with each match. She is discovering the pressure of being No1 in the world. Everybody who plays her can hit out with nothing to lose. Last night Tomic was not given that opportunity.
The Australian
By dusk the big stars had gone. Defending champion Novak Djokovic, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic and the great Roger Federer had done their thing before you sat down to your dinner.
What was left for the night sky were Australians Jelena Dokic and Bernard Tomic. Dokic's life in general and in sport has been traumatic but she deserves everybody's sympathy. Her father was a mad man. She played Russian Anna Chakvetadze, the women's 17th seed. Fair enough that match be played on centre court.
Tomic is barely 16 years old and ranked 767th in the world. Gilles Muller is from Luxembourg and ranked just inside the top 100. He is well known to his family but remains a state secret everywhere else. This boy-versus-man match was played on centre court in prime television and spectator time. It is unlikely that in the history of grand slam tennis have two less qualified players been given the honour of the best spot on the daily calendar. Nor can any match have been more inappropriate for the timeslot no matter the result.
Craig Tiley is in charge of the development of Australian tennis and is tournament director of this Open. The question of what to do with the Australian teenager left him hopelessly compromised, especially since Channel Seven pushed hard for a little Tomic night music. Given the state of tennis in this country Tiley needs to decide on one job or the other. He is yet to live down the ludicrous decision to send Little Lleyton out on to court to play Marcos Baghdatis last year at 11.47pm for the pair not to finish their marathon match until 4.34am.
It is timely to remember that it was Hewitt who, after his first-round loss to Fernando Gonzalez on Tuesday, said this of Tomic: "Yeah, it was a great win by Bernard (four-set defeat of Italian Potito Starace) yesterday, but he's still got a long way to go before he's in the top hundred and playing in the other Slams, the other Masters series week in and week out. I could be retired by the time he gets to the top hundred. Who knows how long that will take, so ..."
It was a plea for caution from one former child prodigy to the handlers of the new whiz-kid. Sadly, it has not been heeded.
Tiley had the easy and far more appropriate opportunity of swapping the No8 seed, Argentian Juan Martin Del Porto's night match against Florian Mayer from the Hisense venue with the Tomic's match on Rod Laver Arena.
A swap could also have been made with the forgotten Australian Brydan Klein, 19, who was down to play the third match of the day on Show Court 2. At least his opponent was the seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, the 16th-ranked player in the world.
Playing Tomic in such an import slot was reckless and an unnecessary risk with the development of Australia's best young player. The result was immaterial, the danger of harming Tomic's career too great.
If you don't think last night's draw was a commercial contrivance then look at which players front the night audience on Rod Laver Arena tonight - Venus Williams, the No6 women's seed, and Andy Murray, No4 in the men's draw.
Klein, three years older than Tomic, lost in straight sets but he appears not far from making a fist of things on the tour. He fretted openly as the match slipped away from him on Show Court 3. But he might just be one win away from a prominent role in Australian tennis.
In sport, corners can be turned in a sudden stride if the self belief is overwhelming. At the moment Klein looks unconvinced that he has the respect of his opponents. He was the Australian junior champion before Tomic and is progressing slowly but without the drool that has drenched Tomic this tournament.
Wawrinka is a sweetly produced player with a good technique and patience to build then finish points precisely. He is 23 and was pleased to get past Klein whose inexperience he was able to exploit.
The top-heavy draw yesterday gave provided a day of interest nonetheless. No3 seed Dinara Safina lost the first set of her match against fellow Russian
Ekaterina Marakova. It forced a re-evaluation of her game. Immediately she became more aggressive, prepared to sacrifice consistency for winners.
She won quick enough, the third set for the loss of no games and in just 29 minutes.
She is prepared to hit 44 unforced errors as she did yesterday if it indicates she is hell-bent on dominating her opponent.
If she plays passively, she loses.
You fancy she is as volatile as her brother, though her new status in tennis means she is no longer regarded as Marat's young sister.
She is certainly as self-deprecating.
If she is not playing or practising, she is in her hotel room watching television.
There are no other options, a focus that she thinks might change as she matures.
After two days it is difficult to get a handle on the women's draw. Ana Ivanovic won comfortably over Italian Alberta Brianti. She feels she is getting better match by match and the rustiness of Brisbane is all but gone.
Like Safina she feels the key to her success is aggression. So, too, does world No1 Jelena Jankovic. She was the least impressive in defeating Kirsten Flipkens.
Jankovic was not perturbed. She, too, feels she is burrowing into the tournament and is becoming more comfortable with each match. She is discovering the pressure of being No1 in the world. Everybody who plays her can hit out with nothing to lose. Last night Tomic was not given that opportunity.
The Australian
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