The rock star of mens tennis, Bernard Tomic, has been named as the ambassador of Tennis Australia’s Junior Development Series, now sponsored by Medibank in a new three-year deal.

I know Tomic is the top Australian Male tennis player at the moment, but seriously Tennis Australia.. is he a good role model?

Points:

1. In a lot of trouble with Police over driving his BMW M3
2. Was banned from the ITF Tour for a month because he walked off court refusing to play and finish a match against fellow Australian Marinko Matosevic
3. Parents are Croatian and Dad put a huge amount of pressure on Bernard from the age of 10. Tennis training many hours per day…

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Sacha Jones has decided to switch elegances and moves from playing for New Zealand to Australia. This move will allow the 21 year old Aucklander to play to Australia as of next week.

“I’m very grateful for the support that Tennis New Zealand has given to my career to date but, if I want to achieve my goals, I believe that being involved in the Australian program will give me the best opportunity to do it.”

With a New Zealand mother and an Australian father, Jones has dual nationality and had the option of playing for either country.

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Ebden is currently Australia’s number 2 mens player, so Im sure we will be seeing a lot of him in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. I just hope he can play some great tennis and get the results he deserves.

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Bit of a joke!

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Ian Goolagong (brother of Evonne) has been appointed to Tennis Australia in the role of National Indigenous Coach.

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Jelena Dokic has released a statement about her father being her new coach.

“I want to thank the Australian public for their incredible ongoing support and assure everyone that I remain Australian and will continue to play for Australia,” she said. “I would like to confirm media reports that I have reconciled with my father. My partner Tin Bikic and I have visited my father at his home to finally put an end to our disagreement. I initiated the meeting as I want to reunite my family and allow us all to get on with our lives and be happy. This has gone on too long. I am in a very positive and confident frame of mind in my life and I really wanted to do this because I believe it is the right thing to do both for me and for all of my family. My father was very receptive and I believe he has changed greatly. He understands that I am my own person who makes my own decisions.

“He is now accepting of Tin and I am very pleased we have been able to sort things out. This has been a very uplifting experience for me and for my family. I am very excited about the future. I plan to continue to work with my fantastic coach Louise Pleming with the ongoing support of Tennis Australia and am extremely thankful to both for their help. My next tour event will be in Linz, Austria.”

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It seems like Tennis Australia is trying to bring European club tennis to Australia. Im not a big fan of the idea. I know it provides good opportunities for players, but it seems like a means to an end.

“It’s all go and people are pretty excited,” Tennis SA chief executive Alistair MacDonald said.

“Luke Saville has registered but I’m not sure which team he’s going to play for. There are a few who would want him.”

Instead of trying to keep the top players in Australia, why aren’t Tennis Australia just looking to set up more opportunities for players to travel into Europe to play real club tennis. Im sure Tennis Australia could set up a club in France or Germany and help the top players travel over, play for the club, then play a series of tournaments after the club season.

I’m still not impressed at all with Tennis Australia and how they aren’t really interested in pushing promising players into positions that will instant improve their games.

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Liam Smith is now the Head Coach of Tennis Australia’s National Academy Sydney. Tennis Australia Developmental Manager Scott Draper made the announcement yesterday.

Smith will work closely with the state’s most talented tennis players aged 10 to 17 years inclusive at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

“Liam has a strong commitment to excellence and will play a leading role in developing the future stars of tennis in Australia,” said Draper.

“He has worked with some of the world’s top junior players and will bring a wealth of international tennis knowledge to Tennis Australia and the National Academy in Sydney.”

Will be interesting to see if Smith can develop some great Aussie talent out of Sydney.

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