Tennis -- Australian Open

Maybe I am a little bit peeved at this story because I am a proud Australian.

However, the idea of changing the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament into the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam event is interesting as I wonder whether people would consider the French Open and Wimbledon being combined into the European Open and the US Open being changed to the Continental American Open, and then to ensure that there remained "four grand slam events", the introduction of the African Open.

The idea of having an Asia-Pacific Open that rotates around from places such as Doha to Suva instead of having a single grand slam event in Australia is flying in the face of history.

With a bit of luck we will see a similar piece from the author of the story linked above for each of the remaining three grand slam events of the year. The pros and cons of each and the need to share around the spoils.

Indonesian Tennis

Tennis in Indonesia has not generated as many stars as the other racquet game that Indonesia excels at, badminton! However, after a considerable interval between the last grand slam tournament champion, Indonesia may now claim another. Christopher Rungkat has partnered with a Finn, Henri Kontinen, to take out the French Open Junior Boys Doubles title.

Indonesia's last grand slam champion was Angelique Wijaja, who unfortunately after taking out a couple of grand slam junior titles has been ravaged by injury and has not translated her junior success into success at the senior level.

So, congratulations are in order for both Christopher and Henri on their success. May this be the start of a revival in interest in tennis in Indonesia. It is strange that in a country with such a large population that Indonesia has not been able to produce more champions and more players capable of competing with the best of the best on the world stage. Nah, if Switzerland with their small population can produce a Roger Federer, then the question is why cannot Indonesia produce a player of a similar caliber?

Just a thought!