The former chief executive of the Australian Open says one of Australia's worst performances at any Grand Slam tournament can be blamed on continuing mismanagement by the governing body for tennis Down Under.
Paul McNamee, a four-time Grand Slam doubles champion, including twice at Wimbledon, says Tennis Australia has failed to develop a next generation of players to replace those who have retired or are aging.
On Tuesday at Wimbledon, 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic and Matt Ebden were eliminated in the first round, marking the first time that no Australian male has advanced to the second round since 1938.
Samantha Stosur lost her second-round women's match Wednesday, only the fourth time in the Open Era that no Australian player has reached the third round in singles at a Grand Slam. Previous worst performances occurred at the 2005 French Open and the U.S. Open in 2007 and 2008.
''It was a grim day for Australia,'' McNamee told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio before Stosur's loss.
''We used to stand tall at Wimbledon. It's the worst day I've ever known, I guess, in tennis history in living memory. It was a very, very sad day. Unfortunately I think this day has been coming for a while.
''We've escaped the wrath with the odd player doing well ... Lleyton (Hewitt) carried the flag and Sam obviously had good results, and Bernard Tomic is coming through. But it's camouflaged a deeper problem where we really haven't brought enough players through. We haven't had the right philosophy for five or six years now and I think, unfortunately, the results are coming to roost.''
McNamee says Tennis Australia has placed too many young prospects into its own system rather than allowing them to work on their game with their own coaches.
''We had a lot of very good juniors over a long period of time now, but we haven't been able to `transition' the juniors into successful senior players, and I believe it's because we haven't had the right philosophy to coaching,'' McNamee said. ''Tennis Australia takes kids away from their own coaches and effectively imposes coaches and there's a little bit of a merry-go-round.''
However, Tennis Australia tournament director Craig Tiley said the events at Wimbledon did not reflect the Australian game's true state.
''It's an overreaction to a moment in time, Tiley said. ''Not a good moment, and one we're not feeling good about, but it's not a reflection of the hard work that's being done.
''Of course the performances aren't good enough on this particular day, but let's not forget how tough some of those draws were. If you look at the results over the past 18 or 24 months, we've outperformed everyone.
''We've had a Grand Slam champion (Stosur), a women's junior champion (Ashleigh Barty), the youngest player in Wimbledon's quarterfinals since 1985 (Tomic) and this year we've gone from having seven to nine players in the Wimbledon draw, which means we're getting more to the starting gate.''
Tiley said using the past as a guide to the future was a mistake.
''We are always comparing ourselves to the past but the past is dramatically different to now,'' he said. ''Look at the women's side now and every single top 10 player is from a different country. On the men's side, you've got all these countries who didn't participate in tennis until recently. We're now competing in a truly global sport.''
