MELBOURNE – The highly anticipated fourth round blockbuster between No. 3-seed Grigor Dimitrov and local star Nick Kyrgios didn’t fail to entertain tennis fans around the world, but the final outcome of the match certainly left the Australian crowd extremely disappointed. Mark Edmondson – a former champion who financed his tennis career working as a hospital janitor – remains the last Australian player to win in Melbourne. With his historical win in 1976, Edmondson also holds the record for the lowest ranked player to capture a Grand Slam title in history.
“I entered the main draw by the narrowest of margins. At the time, the Australian Open draw featured only 64 players and I only had a few ranking points after qualifying for the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Indoors in the previous year. I think I was granted a spot in the main draw after a few players that were ranked higher than me withdrew from the event. I ended up winning the tournament,” Edmondson recalls.
Edmondson defeated Feigl of Austria, fellow countryman Dent, Fairlie of New Zealand, another countryman Crealy and the great Ken Rosewall on his way to the 1976 final. John Newcombe – who mentored Edmondson before his quarterfinal match against Crealy – ironically ended up being Edmondson’s opponent in the final. Newcombe probably regretted giving Edmondson advice on how to defeat Crealy and completely changed his attitude before the final. “Today Mark defeated Ken in the semifinals, but he is yet to realize that he will have to face none other than John Newcombe in the final tomorrow,” Newcombe said using an arrogant and intimidating tone.
Believe it or not, Edmondson defeated Newcombe in the final to capture a historic title in 1976. Since then, John Marks, Kim Warwick, Pat Cash (twice) and Lleyton Hewitt all reached the Australian Open final, but failed to win the title. Once again next year Nick Kyrgios will be the biggest Australian hope to end a drought that has lasted for more than 40 years.
Last night Kyrgios played an incredible match, but Dimitrov was the more solid of the two in the tie-breakers. The outstanding technical ability of the two contestants provided the spectators with a very high-quality match, probably the best of the tournament so far. Dimitrov is certainly more mature, solid and consistent than a few years ago, when many tennis fans used to call him “Baby Fed”. He is also in incredible physical shape.
The genuine hug between the two players at the end of the match was the perfect ending to a spectacular match. Kyrgios accepted the outcome with class: It must have not been easy for him to lose such a close match in front of his home crowd. Dimitrov showed that he is finally ready to win a Grand Slam title and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened in Melbourne this year.
Yesterday Rafael Nadal was less convincing than in his previous matches and dropped the first set of his tournament to Diego Schwartzman of Argentina. With this win, Rafa secured his No. 1 ranking regardless of what happens during the second week of competition.
Rafa will play Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals. The Croatian will be the first big serving opponent that Rafa faces in the tournament. Not to mention that Cilic is a former US Open champion and has the game and personality to upset Rafa in case the Spaniard doesn’t perform at 100%.
The other quarterfinal in the top half of the draw will feature Dimitrov and Kyle Edmund, who yesterday prevailed over Andreas Seppi of Italy. The Italian veteran gave credit to his younger opponent for playing a great match and then reassured his country’s media that he’s not ready to end his career yet. In fact, he will continue to play until 2020.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
