Heather Watson’s underwhelming exit in the second round of the Australian Open seemed to illustrate once again that Great Britain is without a champion cable of winning Grand Slams. The Guernsey-born player’s demise at the hands of Anett Kontaveit was, in truth, not much of a surprise given the 28-year-old’s form in Grand Slams gone by, but that still doesn’t stop British tennis fans from living in hope, but even that is beginning to dwindle.
Indeed, Watson’s exit seemed to end the women’s charge after the British number one seed Johanna Konta withdrew during his first-round match after suffering an injury. Perhaps Konta will still get her moment in the sun this year when Wimbledon comes around but, even then, the women’s latest tennis odds price her at 33/1 to triumph at SW19. The competition in women’s tennis is extremely fierce and any Grand Slam win will have to be hard-fought. It’s, of course, possible, but not very likely at this moment in time when considering everything.
Heather Watson falls to the 2⃣1⃣st seed in Melbourne#BackTheBrits ?? pic.twitter.com/uTtz19DiNL
— LTA (@the_LTA) February 11, 2021
The same could be said for the state of the men’s chances as far as winning a Grand Slam goes. It really was one thing after the other for British tennis fans after Andy Murray had to pull out of the Australian Open as well. The Scot was the player who ushered in a new dawn for British tennis as he successfully dueled the greatest players the game has ever seen.
It was Murray who in 2013 ended Great Britain’s 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men’s singles champion. The 33-year-old put tennis in the UK back on the map in a big way with wins at the US Open and a follow-up win at Wimbledon in 2016.
Naturally, it would be remiss not to mention Murray’s back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016. Indeed, the Scot was able to take British tennis by the scruff of the neck and drag it into a Grand Slam-winning era, albeit a rather brief one.
With Murray now looking closer and closer to retirement, one has to ask the most demoralising of questions; will the United Kingdom have to wait for decades once again to see a Grand Slam champion crowned? Has the golden age disappeared as quickly as it came?
?: Peter Staples | @ATPTour pic.twitter.com/iX3bS4DKhR
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) September 25, 2020
One can’t say with absolute certainty, but it is beginning to look that way given the lack of progress the current British tennis players are making in the biggest tournaments. A door or two may open when the likes of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, and Novak Djokovic eventually retire, but the trio looks far from finished in the men’s game. Even Federer, at 39, isn’t really discussing retirement with any sort of conviction.
The same goes for the women’s game; when players like Serena Williams call it a day perhaps the Grand Slams will be more evenly spread, although the new generation of women’s superstars look frighteningly talented.
The lesson here may be to make the most out of the times that British tennis stars are able to win Grand Slams, because those days look to be a long, long way away again.
