Australia’s contribution to growth of tennis

THE Australian Open Tennis Championships ended on Sunday, drawing the curtain on the first Grand-Slam event of the annual calendar of tennis. It was a fortnight when the whole world focused on a great nation with a history of eminence and contribution to the development of the game. The show in Melbourne is deservedly one of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the game: French Open, The Championships in Wimbledon London and the United States Open in New York.

  This is a gamet that reflects man’s existence; the unavoidable vicissitudes of life. Yes, the entrance to the First Grand slam has the words “History is now.” At the Mecca of Tennis, the Championships Wimbledon, players enter the Centre Court with the words of Rudyard Kipling “If you can face triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors the same, then you are truly great.”  

  Even in the apparent trivia of hitting a little yellow ball back over a net, each human participant reveals his nature in the handling of the thrills of victory and the agony of defeat. The human entity remains the same, despite the ageing and deteriorating physical body; the eternal living spirit and the temporal earthly cloak. Win or lose, the human being remains the same. Invariably champions are deeply philosophical. Sample: Nadal spoke of Murray; “he is a good human being and that is what matters.” After losing to Serena in the 2015 Ladies Finals, Maria Sharapova said: “I love this Rod Laver Arena; I have had here some great moments and some of my worst losses; but that is the life of a tennis player.

  Players describe the Australian Open as the friendliest of the major tournaments. Each Grand slam has its character; but it is underpinned by the nature of the citizens of the country. Asked what he could say in Australian Accent, Rafael Nadal said, “Hi Mate.” Australians are good buddies, faithful friends and they shoot straight, frank and warm. Arthur Ashe once remarked that his contemporaries from down under would party all night and still beat you the next day. 

  Although the game started in England, and the scoring system provided by France, (the ‘love’ first point came from the French word for egg (l’oeuf) Australia and eventually America  took the game to greater attention by moving from the elite private clubs to Public Parks. The Championships, Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam still played in the hallowed lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, and on the traditional grass, the ultimate luxury in tennis surfaces. Australian Open was played in the Kooyong stadium for years on grass before the city of Melbourne carved out a chunk of its Park for the present site. The US Open was played in the private club Forest Hills until the City of New York gave the USTA a chunk of a Park in Queens that had been used for the World Fair and still has the stratosphere as a landmark of the Tournament. 

  Let us look briefly into Australia’s contribution to the growth of tennis. After the separation from the combined name with New Zealand (Australasia), the great Island nation of the Kangaroo came into prominence with the unequaled domination of the Davis Cup competition between nations in lawn tennis. In the history of the competition, Australia places second with 28 Cup victories to America’s 32. For years, however, the Davis Cup was an annual contest between England and the United States, (having originated in their great universities). 

  Most of these titles were won by Australia when the defending country simply waited for a challenger to emerge from knock-out contests by others. It is different today. Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka led Switzerland to its first Davis Cup Title in 2014 with a victory over France in the Finals.

  The Australian Open is now (aptly) called The Grand Slam of Asia and the Pacific. Australia’s history in tennis a chronicle of great players: Jack Crawford, John Bromwich, Frank Sedgman, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Neil Fraser, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, John Newcombe, Tony Roche, John Alexander, Pat Rafter, Pat Cash and Mark Pillippoussis. In the Ladies’ Game we have Margaret Court (winner of 24 Grand slam Titles), Yvonne Goolagong and Samantha Stossur.

  There is great promise in the upcoming Australian star, Nick Kyrgios who has the flair and talent to re-energize tennis in Australia, in the manner of Romania’s Ilie Nastasie, Germany’s Boris Becker and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

  The Australian Open is a huge commercial success. The City of Melbourne and the State of Victoria, quantify the economic benefit of the event to be above 300m dollars. During the period of the tournament, 400 jobs were created, a total of 703,899 spectators passed through the turnstiles in the fortnight.   

  Television rights were signed and matches broadcast to 200 countries worldwide. Any wonder that the major corporate sponsors, Kia Motors, Jacob’s Creek Winery and ANZ, as well as others, are committed to bankrolling the event. It is big business, not only for the tennis industry (manufacturers of balls, rackets, apparel, et cetera), but for the high visibility provided for corporate brands, reinforcing selective perception that translates into patronage of goods and services. 

  The pioneer for commercial sponsorship of tennis was Lamar Hunt, the Texan oil billionaire, the initiator of World Championship Tennis (of 32 top male professional players at the time). Through the effort of a Nigeria’s Chief Olatunji Ajisomo Alabi, the World Championship Tennis event was staged in Lagos in 1975, but ended abruptly during the Military Coup that toppled General Murtala Mohammed.  After Lamar Hunt’s foray, other sponsors followed suit, including the Commercial Union Grand Prix and the Virginia Slims for Ladies, with that enduring slogan: “You’ve come a long way baby.”

  The main bowl of three Grand Slams (Paris, London, New York) is dotted totally with the banners of corporate sponsors. Wimbledon, however, is an exception yet it is such a huge success commercially that it donates millions of pounds to the British Lawn Tennis Association for the development of tennis in Great Britain. Ironically, lamenting a dearth of British tennis champions from the largesse, a newspaper once commented: “Huge profits, scant results.”   

  Australia is prominent in contribution to formal training of players; especially the role of one man: Harry Hopman. The great Harry was the non-playing captain of the Australasia Team that won the cup in 1939. Then after the four years of interruption during the Second World War, Australia emerged as winner in 1950 and for 14 years up till the end of the Hopman captaincy in 1967. Australia did not win the Cup again until the victory over Spain in Brisbane in 1973. Australia has not won the Cup after the 2003 victory over Spain in Melbourne.

  Harry Hopman moved to the United States and brought his boot-camp method to training young boys and girls, first at the All American Summer Tennis Camp in Amherst Massachusetts where Nigeria’s Fidelis Oyogoa also worked, and the great Nick Bolletieri was dubbed “the handsome Pro.” The great man then moved to Port Washington Tennis Academy (owned by the developer Hy Zausner) on Long Island New York, where he directed the programme, assisted by Tony Palafox the Mexican Davis Cup player and doubles partner of Rafel Osuna. The students included Dick Stockton, Bobby Stockton, Vitas Gerulaitis, Ruta Gerulaitis, John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe, Barbara Goldman, Fritz Buehning, Marion Gengler, Mary Carillo, John Van Nostrand and Molly Van Nostrand. Hopman was a great motivator who said: “My goal is to stretch men, to make them achieve more than they think they are capable of achieving.” 

  When he handed over the management of Port Washington Tennis Academy to another Australian, Alex Aitchison, Hopman headed south and founded his own academy in Florida. Bolletieri started his own Academy also in Florida and it is now part of the International Management Group. Many great players have come from that stable: Michael Chang, Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters. This marked the advent of formalized tennis training facilities, linked with the American secondary education system. Tennis instructors were no longer “tennis bums” but members of a respected United States Professional Tennis Association. Dennis Van der Meer broke off from the USPTA to found the United States Professional Tennis Registry and he broadened its membership internationally. 

Australia’s contribution to the development of tennis in the world is a historical fact. Today, there is a Legacy to the man, the Hopman Cup competition among nations, (Men’s Singles, Ladies Singles and Mixed Doubles) played annually just before the Australian Open.

 (While studying for his Master of Business Administration degree at Adelphi University, Long Island, Prince Jacob Akindele was an instructor under Harry Hopman and Tony Palafox at the Port Washington Tennis Academy, from 1972 to 1974), along with Australia’s Peter Campbell and Bob Brett (who later coached Boris Becker for many years).

Winners at the 2015 Australian Open Tennis Championships

Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

Ladies Singles: Serena Williams (US)

Men’s Doubles: Simone Bolleti and Fabio. Fognini (Italy)

Women’s Doubles: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)

Mixed Doubles: Leander Paes (India) & Martina Hingis (Switzerland)

Boys’ Singles: Roman Safiullin (Russia)

Junior Boys’ Doubles: Jake Delaney and Marc Polmans (Australia)

Girls Singles: Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia)

Junior Girls Doubles: Miriam Koloaziejova  and Marketa Vendrousova Czek Republic

Men’s Wheelchair Singles: Shingo Kunieda (Japan)

Men’s Wheelchair Doubles: Shingo Kunieda (Japan) and Stephane Houdet (France)

Women’s Wheelchair Singles: Jiske Griffoen (Netherlands)

Women’s’ Wheelchair Doubles: Yul Kamiji (Japan) and Jordanne Whiley (Great Britain). Whiley (Great Britain)

Quad Wheelchair Singles: D. Alcott (Australia)