The boys club marches on

Anyone hoping that a new player could crack the fortress that is men’s tennis’ top four, I’m sorry to disappoint you. The gulf between Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray, and the rest is just as wide this year as it was last year. Not one of these players was troubled on their way to the semis. On the plus side, it means that we will likely see many more monumental Federer-Nadal matches. The drawback, of course, is that tennis will become increasingly predictable and upsets increasingly infrequent. At least we’re ready for it.

Depth in women’s tennis is an issue

If a drawback of men’s tennis is that the best players keep reaching the pointy end because they are too good, the same result may be seen in women’s tennis but for the opposite reason. That is, the top players could be beatable, but there isn’t the quality in the field to beat them. This was the subject of quite a few opinion pieces, particularly over the first week of the Open. One even suggested that the women’s draw should only allow 64 players.

Indeed, only 26 of the first 112 women’s matches went beyond straight sets. Only three out of 16 did in the third round. Maria Sharapova was so un-challenged that she lost five games in her first six sets.

I asked former champion Martina Hingis her thoughts on this matter and she did little to convince me it wasn’t a problem. She responded first by attacking me (“Are you serious? Are you kidding?”), then by singling out one match that had been close, before deflecting the focus onto men’s matches that were also blowouts. It was a substance-free answer that had all the hallmarks of denial.

Besides, the reasons for the one-sided results are totally different. Of course the top tier players are going to win comfortably, it’s the other matches that tell the story. And in the women’s draw, they suggest a lack of depth that will not be fixed by ignoring the problem.

Wozniacki will not win a Grand Slam playing as she does

Caroline Wozniacki had a great year last year, but she cannot be a top player while she lacks penetration in her groundstrokes. She has the ball-retrieval ability of a puppy, and sets her points up cleverly. Consequently, she destroys weaker opponents. However, put her up against a power hitter – Kim Clijsters, as a random example – and her defensive game simply gets overpowered. Until she can be more damaging with her basic strokes, and play with a more positive court position, she will never beat the big guns.

Australian tennis is in good hands

Even if the waning Lleyton Hewitt was Australia’s last standing player, the signs for the future of Aussie tennis were overwhelmingly positive. Of course, Hewitt played a gutsy and inspiring tournament, and Tomic progressed to the fourth round, but there were plenty of other good signs.

While Hewitt’s good performance will be one of his last, two young Aussie wildcards showed us a glimpse of the next generation. James Duckworth claimed a Grand Slam scalp in the first round, and then pushed ninth-seed Janko Tipsarevic in four long sets, while Matthew Ebden also broke through for a win.

Add to that Luke Saville, a 17-year-old who already has junior Grand Slam success to his name, and is two wins away from another here. Expect him to significantly improve his ranking of 1177 over the coming months.

On the women’s side, Casey Dellacqua made a solid return after a lengthy injury absence as she, Jelena Dokic and Olivia Rogowska all registered wins. And, of course, there is more to come from Sam Stosur, even if it must come overseas.

We might not have multiple top-ten players, but fans of Aussie tennis have much to be hopeful for.