Dire Straits Down Under

The big upset of the day was the elimination of Samantha Stosur, the fifth seed from Australia who so dramatically won the US Open last year having also reached the final of the French Open.

Her 6-2 0-6 6-4 defeat by Arantxa Rus of Holland was not as surprising as at it might seem at first sight for she has never really for despite having a game well suited to grass, she has never seemingly been comfortable on the natural surface.

Her record at The Championships leaves a lot to be desired as she has never progressed past the third round in nine appearances but the result also means that for the frist time since 2007, there are no Aussie women  at Wimbledon.

That, when you then realise that there are no male players from down under in the men's draw, the signs don't augur all that well for Australian tennis.

Perhaps more surprisingly is the fact that the failure of any of the men to progress past the first round is the worst performance by them since 1938!

Lleyton Hewitt, the champion of 2002, appeared this year courtesy of a wild card, was beaten - not surprisingly perhaps - by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the fifth seed, 6-3 6-3 6-4; Bernard Tomic, last year's quarter finalist and this year's 20^th seed, was knocked out by the wild card from Belgium, David Goffin, 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 and Marinko Matosevic fell to another Belgian, Xavier Malisse 6-2 6-2 7-5.

When one remembers the halcyon days of Australian tennis with te likes of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall,  Pat Cash - all winners in their day.

Hewitt's comment as his colleagues were also erased from the draw was a typical Aussie understatement: "Really, the boys didn't have the best day today!"

The women's list, headed by Margaret Court and Wendy Turnbull, isn't as dramatic as the men's, but it still represents a bygone era during when they instilled fear in the opposition.

Sam Stosur seemed to be rising to fill their shoes but now one can only wonder whether she has the mental strength to deliver the titles her nation expects.

 She was the only one of three who made the second round as Anastasia Rodionova crumbled under the power of the top seed Maria Sharapova 6-2 6-3 as did Casey Dellacqua against Marion Bartoli, the ninth seed, 6-2 6-4.

" it's a pretty woeful performance by all of us," Stosur commented when questioned about the country's dismal performance. " But it's not through lack of trying or not wanting to be here or anything like that.  I think it's just one of those things that's happened.

"I think you have to look at something on a whole, for a longer period of time than just one event, to say that we're in this dire straits kind of mode right now.

"So I think of course it can be better.  Myself and all the other players that I'm sure we can speak for wish we had a better tournament."

When asked about the future, she added: "There's definitely players coming up [but] It's always going to take time. "

By the looks of it they can't come through fast enough.