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thought I pick up the slack here since 42 has gone MIA.....being the Aussie Open shed more Aussie players on show. De Minaur obviously is Aust best hope in the mens, whilst Barty the best hope for the ladies...both coming off great performances in the recent Sydney international. De Minaur, unlike 42's two faves in Nick and Bernie, certainly goes under the radar on and off the court, very Hewittesque like in stature and ability, hopefully the two golden boys can follow his lead and put their heads down and make Aust proud....others such as Kubler, Millman, Ebden et al can also put their best feet forward. From the ladies Barty, hopefully doesn't do a Stosur and fall in a heap under the weight of Aussie great expectations. Looks like a great comp this year, hopefully Murray can last through to the bitter end with his dodgy hip and go out on a positive note....be great if de Minaur and Barty can do the double, big ask, but been a while since an Aussie went very deep in their home tournament.

Andy Murray about to start his first round match versus a guy named Roberto Bautista Agut who I have never heard of but apparently he won a title in Doha recently and beat Djokovic and Berdych in the process so you suspect he will be no pushover.

Credit to Andy he fought tooth and nail to take this match into a 5th set but he had nothing left at the end. It was a typical gritty performance from him against a much better prepared and in form opponent. He looked a bit embarrassed with all the adulation afterwards but he deserved it.
From an Australian viewpoint good to see De Minaur and Barty get through, Good day for Australia overall apart from Tomic's outburst.

I'd love to see Ash Barty v Naomi Osaka clash. That would be the hottest ticket at the Open for me. Women's tennis will be in good shape if those two rise to the very top.

Aussie players dropping off left right and centre.....Barty and Birrell holding up the ladies fort, whilst De Minaur, Popyrin and Bolt for the fellas.....self acclaimed guns in Tomic and Krygios left as fast as they arrived, whilst Stosur did her usual Aussie Open 1st round departure.....lot of chit chat of Lleyton and his favourites.....I guess when you have done as much as Hewitt has done to raise the profile of Tennis in Australia since the days of Laver, Rosewall, Newcombe et al...I guess Hewitt should be cut a few perks.....can see Barty going alone very soon....though De Minaur defeating Nadal would definitely strengthen his case for being Hewitts Golden Boy.....really ticking off the brats even further....

Laughingly one of the "Aussie" tennis brats (flogs) Kyrgios was suggesting tennis is a tougher sport then football to play after a radio show (that has a Brownlow Medal winner on the panel) questioned his desire and will to win...he really has no idea does he?!

I guess in tennis nobody to hide behind when you lose like in AFL...but doesn't stop the boys from passing the buck tho......just can't believe how well paid these guys are.. even for mediocrity or half arsed efforts........bit like a few AFL guys TBH ...thus the similarity me thinks BH...LOL

everything is so hard for these boys at present.....no wonder why Hewitt struggles to engage with them.....unlike De Minaur who is a mini me Hewitt.

Where's Sean (aka S42) to defend his tennis prodigies? Lol

Great to see two new prodigies taking over the mantle tho....Alex and Alexei both 19, hopefully can continue to develop and push Nic and Bernie out of the limelight.....also great to see "older" prodigy in Bolt play successfully with a gung ho attitude, letting his racquet do the talking instead of his tongue or mobile phone.......5 Aussies through to round 3....first time since way 2000s.....can still lose them all in a blink of an eye, but still great to see some new names taking the headlines away from the prima dona you know who's.......at present those WC choices look spot on by Tennis Australia......

I notice that Hewitt has now done exactly what he accused Tomic of doing, taking the focus off the great performance of the Aussies in week 1 of the open and putting it squarely on himself.... sound familiar? Mind you if his allegations are true they are no laughing matter and police should be involved but to me it sounds more like a gripe to hit back at a nasty comment from Tomic while the eyes of the tennis world are on Melbourne.
If you think Hewitt has matured with age, think again. If I was in charge of CA I would disown all of them ( including Kyrios) and install a new coaching regime to nurture the group of promising young male and female players who are on the rise.