Melbourne Park is home to one of the greatest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s the place where the world’s best tennis players battle under the brutal Australian sun for the chance to hold the coveted Australian Open title.

While the fight for glory remains strong and fierce, the once high number of Australian participants has dramatically reduced in recent years, as the quality of Australian tennis falters with age. Australian players provide the nation’s hope as our sporting country barracks for the underdog to triumph over all obstacles and win their home championship.

As of late, the junior ranks have allowed the Australian spirit to live on with hope as both Boys’ Singles Champions of the past two years, Brydan Klein and Bernard Tomic, have both heralded from our own backyard.

But with the injuries to the highest ranked Australian men’s singles player, Lleyton Hewitt, and the Davis Cup team’s relegation to the Asia/Oceania division in 2009, the question must be asked if Australian tennis has drawn its final straw.

The Australian Open, as one of the four major Grand Slam tennis tournaments each year, accumulates enormous revenue as tennis fans from all parts of the world come to see the best.

As a host, the allocation of player wildcards into all events is governed by the tournament committee and in the interest of prospering the future of Australian tennis, the majority of wildcards are given to the young up-and-coming Australian players to aid their experience and provide them with the opportunity to carry the almighty Australian hope.

But recently, Tennis Australia has granted wildcards to foreign players. These players are manipulating Australia’s prominence on the tennis circuit by taking advantage of the benefits Tennis Australia is able to provide for its players.

In the Australian Open earlier this year a wildcard was granted to a foreign female player who claimed she wanted to represent Australia. In the event’s lead up tournament, Jarmila Gajdosova, represented Australia in the tournament draw. However in the Australian Open two weeks later she was classed as being from Slovakia, her former home country. While she still currently plays on the tour, she is recognized as being Slovakian on the official rankings of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

While Russian Born 26-year-old, Anastasia Rodionova, has also adopted Australian representation. Despite not being officially recognized as Australian by the WTA Tour, in January of this year she was pictured at Melbourne Park as one of the five highest ranked Australian female players.

The fact that Tennis Australia is supporting foreign players who are opting for Australian citizenship in their adult age proves that Australia’s junior tennis future has not reached the pinnacle of its past greats.

Australian juniors already face the enormous difficulty in developing a career on the professional circuit due to the geographic positioning of Australia in the world – away from the tennis elite in Europe and the United States.

While travelling costs and the amount of money needed for coaching and equipment continually increases with a player’s skill, if junior players are being forgotten by the national tennis body because of eager foreign players, then the future of Australian tennis appears to be rapidly declining.

The other three annual Grand Slam tennis events held in France, England and the United States use a majority of the profitable revenue from the tournaments for the funding of their junior ranks.

In a comparison with the world’s best at the current time, Australian players lack the skills developed on clay courts where mental strength and the ability to fight for points and grind down opponents are developed with consistency.

Australian junior tennis players face difficult hurdles in becoming professionals at the sport before even hitting their first tennis ball. However, if Tennis Australia continues to provide for foreign players while neglecting the needs of the country’s juniors then a question mark is stamped on the future of the game.

However, while the physical demands for a tennis player to improve with the advancements in racquet and stringing technology, sceptics say that the mental stamina of Australian juniors is lacking and without the desire to win, there is no hope.

The women’s tennis tour today is dominated by players who only had one choice in life – tennis. The vast amount of Russian players and the everlasting supremacy the Williams sisters, are females who have come from nothing, where tennis was the only way to escape poverty and form a life for themselves and their family.

Without the sheer desire and passion to win in a dog-eat-dog world, it must be said that money will only take you so far.

The future of Australian tennis looks bleak because of the many obstacles that players must encounter to make it to the pinnacle of the tennis elite.

While they fight – will they succeed?

And will this possible success prove to be enough to match and compete with the world’s best on the biggest stage of them all – the Australian Open?

Has Australian tennis met its ‘Game, Set and Match’?

Phot courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mpdehaan/125860159/