From Laver to Rafter, Australian Tennis is always very exciting.

Australian tennis has always been one of my favourite things to talk about. As you will notice in my pro tennis page, although I really enjoy watching Roger Federer play, I still think that Rod Laver is the greatest player of all time. Now if Roger can win the French Open in his career, this would go a long way towards convincing me otherwise. Anyway, about the topic. In recent years, Australia has not had such a strong showing on the world stage, with the exception of Lleyton Hewitt and Alicia Molik, and before them Pat Rafter.

Long before that, however, Australia was a superpower when it came to tennis. That is in large part thanks to Harry Hopman, the legendary coach who helped Australia to so many Davis Cup titles. He was the man who coached such greats as Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Neale Fraser, Tony Roche, John Newcombe, Fred Stolle and much later, John McEnroe. These men would all enjoy victories at the Australian Tennis Open, now more commonly known as the Australian Open, which is held from the third Monday of January each year, and continues for a fortnight. Among the female tennis players, Margaret Court is undoubtedly the greatest ever, having won the calendar year Grand Slam, and a total of 24 grand slam singles titles in her career.

The thing about this country is that people often don't realise is that Australians are really good at doubles. They usually have at least one player in the top 10 in the world in doubles, and that player right now is Paul Hanley. So when you're thinking about Australians, remember that they are a force to be reckoned with and, even though they might be going through a bit of a slump right now, they'll be right up there again soon with such promising young stars as Jessica Moore and Benard Tomic.

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