Tennis: Where the bloody hell are you, mate?

Wildcard entry Bernard Tomic was the only Australian male to advance past the second round in Melbourne this week. Photo / Getty Images

It's their grand slam event - but where the bloody hell are the Aussies?

New Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter wishes he had an answer to this perennial question. While the Australian Open gets bigger and better every year - ever-increasing attendances, profile and prize money - there is a definite lack of local flavour.

On the men's side, the last homegrown triumph was former janitor Mark Edmondson in 1976 - of the other three grand slams only Wimbledon (Fred Perry, 1936) has gone longer without a resident national champion.

The lucky country dominated the sport in the 1960s and 1970s but, since Pat Cash made the decider of the Australian Open in 1988, only 10 times have Australian men made grand slam finals (and just once in Melbourne, Lleyton Hewitt 2005).

On the women's side it has been worse. This year, Sam Stosur was the first local female to be seeded in the top five for 26 years.

So how to turn things around?

"That is the toughest question to be asked," says Rafter, "and I wish I knew the answer."

When he hung up his racquet in 2002, the Queenslander had won back-to-back US Opens (1997-98) and reached two Wimbledon finals, as well as being ranked world No 1 in 1999. The 38-year-old, appointed Davis Cup captain in October, stresses the importance of returning to the basics.

"If I had to structure a kids tennis programme now I would go back to good old-fashioned hard training and tough love," Rafter told the Herald on Sunday. "I honestly believe the kids are softer and it has to do partially with our quality of life in Australia and New Zealand."

Certainly there has been an astonishing European renaissance in the sport with 95 Europeans in the men's main draw of 128. Throw in a plethora of South Americans and there is little room for the traditional powers of Australia and the United States. On the women's side the situation is similar, with 18 from Russia and 10 from the Czech Republic.

"The other countries are hungrier," says Rafter, "and the athletes are better, bigger and stronger than when we played. The game is better than when we played. You can't be soft these days."

At the 2011 Australian Open just four homegrown players were in the main draw - Lleyton Hewitt (world No 54), Sam Stosur (six), Jarmila Groth (34) and Anastasia Rodionova (67).

Another 10 received wildcards, but only Stosur and Bernard Tomic made it beyond the second round.

Rafter says the concept of home advantage adds another piece to the puzzle; another partial explanation of years of under-performance by the green and gold in Melbourne.

"It's always nice playing at home but I certainly felt a lot more pressure and expectation," says Rafter.

"The crowd could really lift you when it got tight and I certainly liked that but when things aren't going well then you want to bury your head and get off the court as soon as possible."

Rafter featured in nine Australian Opens but only went beyond the fourth round once; the semifinal in 2001.

"There is never a lack of motivation playing a grand slam and also playing in your home country [but] pressure does come with that."

Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood says: "We need to punch above our weight now."

He points out that, until 1974, only four countries (Australia, the US, France and Great Britain) held the Davis Cup.

"Now we have 75 million people playing the sport in 203 countries and Serbia holding the Davis Cup."

Wood is enthusiastic about the hotshots programme (Tennis New Zealand has a similar programme) with 220,000 kids enrolled as they target a million by 2012. They play with modified balls that bounce lower, making the sport less intimidating and more likely they will stick with it, rather than shifting to Australian Rules, cricket, netball or hockey.

The lack of decent fast bowlers wearing the baggy green has been blamed on the AFL stealing all the prototypes, and Tennis Australia is singing from the same songsheet.

Their director of athlete development, Craig Monk, says: "We need to win the battle for talent - and hearts and minds - and it is a big battle to win.

"We need to ensure our best athletes want to play tennis, not the other sports. There are a million girls playing netball - imagine athletes like Catherine Cox or Sharelle McMahon if they were tennis players."

He points out that in Serbia, which has enjoyed astonishing success over the past few years, girls gravitate towards tennis as there are not many other alternatives. It's the same in Argentina, where boys essentially choose between football, rugby and tennis.

Monk, also head of women's tennis, says the constant fight to get kids into the sport instead of another code is just the beginning.

"There are so many variables that make up a tennis player and go way beyond a good forehand and backhand," says Monk. "Apart from talent and athleticism, it takes a special breed of toughness to persevere out there.

"[The European kids] are seen as tougher because they have been in a stronger competitive environment for longer. They are hardened more. I don't think Australian or New Zealand players have the capacity to be as tough - look at Pat Rafter; Lleyton Hewitt."

Monk explains that, on your way up, you go through a losing cycle; one the Europeans may face at 13, 14, or 15 but Australians don't encounter until 16 or 17.

He gives the example of Justine Henin and Kim Cljisters facing each other since they were both 12 years old, whereas Sam Stosur might play Henin for the first time when she is 18.

"It is all about moments in time," says Monk. "A 16-year-old Spaniard usually has more miles in the legs than a 16-year-old Australian. We need to change that."

To that end, Tennis Australia has established a base in Barcelona and players from as young as 12 spend the European summer there.

Australian tennis was always characterised by great volleyers - Rod Laver, Cash, Rafter - and the shift towards baseline dominance, and a slowing of the courts has hardly helped.

Rafter, one of the last serve and volleyers to win a grand slam, thinks the tactic can be relevant in the modern game.

"It does seem slower and [therefore] harder to dominate at the net these days but I believe that everything has its time," says Rafter.

"There is still room for smarts and to serve and volley and chip and charge out there. You just need to play it at a younger age and understand the subtleties of it."

Appropriately the last word should go to that esteemed tennis historian and handy player Roger Federer.

The world No 2 told the Herald on Sunday he sees the current malaise as a cycle.

"I definitely think Australia and America can get back sooner rather than later," he says. "I guess the [European dominance] is just a trend right now like it used to be a trend that America and Australia had such great players. I guess it comes in cycles."

Aussie champions

Australian champions in all grand slams
* 2000s: 2 male.
* 1990s: 2 male.
* 1980s: 1 male, 1 female.
* 1970s: 9 male, 16 female.
* 1960s: 25 male, 17 female.