For the first time since 1938, no Australian man reached the second round of Wimbledon. On Tuesday, Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic, and Matt Edben all lost. Former Wimbledon champion Hewitt didn't appear too concerned.
"Obviously the boys didn't have the best day today, said Hewitt, who lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. "But who knows. Matchups, there's a lot of different reasons it could have been. But at least three of us, the three guys that played today, I know we could have beat a lot of guys that are still going in the tournament. That's just how it falls."
However, former Aussie player Wally Masur said the nation has lost its way on grass. "When I was playing you could close your eyes and conjure up an Australian in terms of their characteristics and their game style and it was very suited to grass,” Masur told the New York Times. “I don’t think you can close your eyes and conjure up an Australian anymore. I think we’ve lost our identity, and while I think it’s fantastic that the Australian Open did what it did and it had to happen, it did cost us our identity. Now you close your eyes, and you conjure up a Spaniard.”