The 1950’s and 60’s was often referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ of Australian men’s tennis due to the sheer number of Australian participants who achieved well-documented success in the four grand slam events: The Australian Open, The French Championships, Wimbledon and the United States Open.
The conveyor belt of talent was full of riches in this period, with the likes of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall and others who dominated the sport on a regular basis for the better part of three decades. Between 1946 and 1973 an Australian player won at least one of the majors each year, starting with the late John Bromwich and culminating with the great John Newcombe’s sixth of seven slam successes in singles.
No other Australian champion comes close to the title of ‘the greatest’ as Rod Laver, who still remains the only man to have completed the ‘Grand Slam.’ To top it off he did so twice, first in 1962 and again in 1969. That’s remarkable in itself but if you delve closer into the history of tennis, the most remarkable element is that Rod Laver was able to win those calendar year slams once as an amateur and once as a professional in the Open Era, which began in 1968.
For anyone not accustomed to what the Open Era means, it was when both the amateurs and professionals of the game were put in an ‘open’ tournament so that majors were available for both. Laver took his time to become a professional, but monetary benefits and family needs meant he had to take the plunge and stabilize his future. The red-headed, Rockhampton born, left -hander would go on to achieve the slam at the age of 24 and then again seven years later. This is one reason why I consider Rod Laver to be the greatest champion to have played the game, and this statement is backed up by none other than Roger Federer.
In 2015, after a decade of over-reliance on Lleyton Hewitt, we are now seeing the emergence of great young talent in Australia. Bernard Tomic, 18-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis, 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios, the world’s fastest recorded server, Sam Groth and a crop of other youngsters including Wimbledon Junior champions Luke Saville and Dane Propoggia have emerged to take up the mantle of Australian men’s tennis. The most important part of seeing the development of these players is seeing them develop together, watching the progress and results of a compatriot can only spur on the other players to make the next step.
What’s so enticing about a selection of Australian players making the second and third round of a Grand Slam? The most important factor to me is every Australian I’ve listed above are marketable tennis players. Nick Kyrgios has a wave of arrogance about him, which many fail to embrace, but ultimately he has the ‘X Factor’ which other nations would crave to have. Luke Saville is more the understated type but he let’s his game do the talking. Unpredictable net rushes and a serve and volleying brand of tennis many witnessed at Wimbledon and in Australia, where he won one of two juniors’ championships.
The array of Australian talent doesn’t stop at Saville, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios. There’s exciting youngsters still chomping at the bit to make the step up including Akira Santillan and Gavin Van Peperzeel, now 22 who looked like an enticing prospect in the Australian Wild Card play-offs in December. Further experience in slam level matches are arriving for players like Jordan Thompson, who was up two sets to love on Jerzy Janowicz in one of the matches of the tournaments at the Australian Open last year. The talent is there, it just needs nurturing and more importantly needs the patience and time to develop.
In ten years time will we be talking of another Rod Laver type player headlining another ‘golden-age’? Probably not. One thing which is guaranteed, however, is that we have a decade of riches in the Australian men’s tennis game for years to come.
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