Being a Davis Cup champion twenty-eight times and producing legends like Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Margaret Court, and Evonne Goolagong has often made Australia one of the standard-bearers in tennis. That is why it is understandable that another Aussie legend, 22-time Grand Slam champion, Todd Woodbridge, had a strong defense against media reports published in The Australian that discussed the recent struggles of Australian tennis.
“There were some reports in the paper in the last weeks that were incorrect,” said Woodbridge during his commentary stint at the Davis Cup. “The National Academy has been doing a fantastic job. In fact, Cruz Hewitt has been in Brisbane for the last 12 months. And there’s been talk that we’ve got no Australian coaches. Well, he was working very well alongside Wayne Arthurs, who is one of our coaches along with Mark Draper…Mark being out on tour consistently the last few years with Rinky Hijikata doing a phenomenal job winning Grand Slam doubles titles. It just annoys me when people are not focusing on facts and other’s opinions, so we kind of need to get that right.”
Woodbridge’s passionate defense of his compatriots is understandable, but if one looks at the facts, Australian success at the Grand Slams has been limited over the years. Since 2000, Lleyton Hewitt has been the only Grand Slam champion on the men’s side for Australia, and he also dominated the sport as the World No.1 in 2002.
Even though success in singles has been limited, Australia has had success in the doubles. The likes of Matthew Ebden, Max Purcell, Jordan Thompson, Rinky Hijikata, and Jason Kubler have all tasted Grand Slam success, with Ebden the reigning Olympic doubles champion, having won gold in Paris with John Peers. Even the temporary Aussie duo of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis thrilled the Melbourne crowd back in 2022, when they won the doubles title at the Australian Open.
As of now, Alex de Minaur is the best Australian player in the sport, ranked No. 9 in the world. On the men’s side, there are the likes of James Duckworth, Rinky Hijikata, and Aleksander Vukic who are within the Top 100 on the ATP Rankings. While the trio of Duckworth, Hijikata, and Vukic are yet to win a title on the Tour, De Minaur has consistently featured in the Top 10 over the last few years, winning 11 Tour-level titles. However, the Australian No.1 has not had success at the Masters level and has yet to go past the quarterfinal barrier at Slams.
The fact that Woodbridge made his comments during Davis Cup commentary is itself significant, given the Australian team’s performance in the competition over the last few years. Having last won the title in 2003, the Australian team, under the leadership of Hewitt, regained title-winning potential by reaching the finals in 2022 and 2023 but lost to Canada and Italy, respectively.
However, the shock loss to Ecuador during the qualifying round this year was a bit of a setback for Australia. Even though they did not have their talisman in De Minaur, the team consisting of Hijikata, Duckworth, and Kubler was expected to beat a team that had no player in the Top 100.
The loss meant Australia were in action against Poland in the World Group tie, and in their home ground of Brisbane, the Aussies are up against it. While De Minaur was back and gave them the win against Maks Kaśnikowski, Kamil Majchrzak leveled the tie by beating Duckworth. The doubles team of Hijikata and Max Purcell gave a 2-1 lead to the Australian team, with the onus of victory on De Minaur as he faces Majchrzak in the reverse fixture.
Team captain Lleyton Hewitt will hope his top player finishes the tie for him, as another loss will put more pressure on him, given that the former World No.1 had some strong comments about the condition of junior tennis in the country.
Lleyton Hewitt Had Opposite Views Regarding Australin Tennis Compared to Todd Woodbridge
While Woodbridge was optimistic about the pipeline of junior players in Australia, his compatriot Hewitt did not share that optimism. Ahead of the tie against Poland, the Davis Cup team captain had his blunt take on the situation of junior tennis in the country.
“Well we’re struggling at the moment, there’s no doubt about that, just with the numbers coming through,” answered Hewitt to a press conference question at the Davis Cup. “That’s something that’s definitely got to be looked at. It’s not easy coming from Australia, but we should be doing a lot better than we are, that’s for sure.”
Hewitt is not far off, as there are only three Australian players within the Top 100 of the junior ITF rankings. Mustafa Ege Silk, Daniel Jovanovski, and Cooper Kose are ranked 55th, 57th, and 99th, respectively. Hewitt’s son, Cruz, is 103, but he reached the Wimbledon boys’ final this year. The younger Hewitt also had his maiden Tour-level win in Washington this year before losing to De Minaur, with generations of Australian tennis going head-to-head.
There have been a few junior Slam champions in Australian tennis this century, but only two of them have had any notable success. Both Nick Kyrgios and Alexei Popyrin reached the Top 20 in the rankings, with Kyrgios reaching the Wimbledon final in 2022, and Popyrin winning a Masters 1000 title in Canada in 2024.