KEY POINTS:
How many ways can you flog this dead horse? How many ways can you write that New Zealand men's tennis is in a hole?
Dan King-Turner, the country's top player and wildcard entry into the Heineken Open, flashed before the eyes in the ATP tournament in downtown Auckland
yesterday.
The 22-year-old King-Turner inherited the No 1 tag when Mark Nielsen was banned after returning a positive drug test.
In another era, King-Turner would have been just another New Zealand player.
But he happened upon us when the great names have long since departed.
He is a man who may well be doing his best, when the New Zealand game is far from being at its best.
It took the world No 71 Juan Monaco just 69 minutes to send the only New Zealander singles player in the tournament packing 6-3, 6-3 in their first round clash.
You can spend longer getting to work in Auckland these days.
Not that anyone was surprised. King-Turner drew enthusiastic support midway through the second set, but around that were a few groans and awkward silence.
Not even the sight of the Argentinian needing attention on strained calf muscles was enough for King-Turner to muster more than the merest hint that he could cause an upset.
The press pack did start hunting for small glories as qualifier Monaco had his calves massaged while leading 2-1 in the first set.
King-Turner, the statistics revealed, would immediately leap from the mid to low 400s in the world if the 22-year-old Monaco pulled out. No such luck.
It wasn't all about hope through medical misadventure. King-Turner led 3-1 in the second set, but Monaco levelled and then won 12 of the next 17 points to cruise home.
Among the crowd was the distant patriarch of New Zealand tennis, 80-year-old Jeff Robson.
And here, you could at least find hope for New Zealand men's tennis in the form of a man who was reluctant to put the boot in.
"I don't tear my hair out about it," says Robson, once a dual tennis and badminton international and the national captain in one of our finest David Cup eras. "It's disappointing at the moment but I'm not all doom and gloom.
"Our girls are doing well but it's the men who are the problem.
"But you can look at a country like Australia who used to have so many fine players and apart from Lleyton Hewitt they are struggling right now.
"You could see this coming, that there were no young stars coming through in New Zealand.
"I'm sure someone will turn up again. Then it's a case of having the coaching and commitment money, of course."
Robson says he is mystified as to why the natural sporting gifts of Maori and Polynesian people have not had more of an impact in New Zealand tennis.
"A lot of it comes back to the grass roots," he says.
As for King-Turner's performance against Monaco, Robson said: "He's got a good serve, good power. He's just a bit erratic on critical points."
King-Turner's year includes more Davis Cup action, playing in Australia, then returning to England where he believes he can boost his ranking to about 300. He's hoping to progress out of the Futures Tour to playing more tournaments in the Challenger Series which is one step below the ATP Tour.
"These guys are playing at this level week in and week out," said King-Turner about Monaco.
It is five years since Nielsen made it to the second round of the Auckland tournament, the last time a New Zealander progressed that far on the ATP tour.
It's even longer since New Zealand produced a player who threatened much more than that. There are plenty of theories about New Zealand tennis, but nothing much that gets put into action.
Which made it cheering to catch up with a man like Robson, who could still smile in optimism. What else is there to do?
