2010 Australian Open: Country Tally
The Australian Open is usually known for its spirited, nationalistic fans. For years, it was the Swedish fans, then the Greeks and now the Croatian and Serbian fans who have made their presence known. In fact this year there was a men’s doubles team featuring a
Croatian, Ivo Karlovic, and a Serb, Dusan Vemic, which is unusual given the past tensions between the countries and tennis fans at the Australian Open. Louk Sorensen, who gave Ireland its first main draw singles player since 1985, went on to notch the first win by an Irishman in a Grand Slam match when he defeated Yen-Hsun Lu. Louk's father, Matt Sorensen, played Wimbledon in 1977 and is now the Davis Cup captain for Ireland. Marsel Ilhan of Turkey, who was the first Turkish player to win a match at a Grand Slam at the 2009 U.S. Open, defeated French wildcard, Sebastien Grosjean in the first round to record the first Turkish win at the Australian Open. France had the most men competing in this year’s tournament, i.e. 14, edging out Spain by one player. Russia continued its dominance of women’s tennis with 16 ladies in the main draw. However, the biggest "country-related" story at this year’s Australian Open was that for the first time two Chinese tennis players, Na Li and Jie Zheng, reached the semis of the women’s singles. Another measure of a country’s tennis success is how many players reach the later rounds of Grand Slams and win titles, i.e. the Australian Open trophy count! Listed below is a chart of the main draw singles players by country.
Country Men Women
2009 2010 2009 2010
Argentina 9 7 1 1
Australia 7 8 9 7
Belgium NA 4 NA 4
Canada 2 0 2 3
China 0 0 3 4
Croatia 5 5 1 2
Czech Republic 4 3 7 8
France 15 14 12 7
Germany 11 11 9 8
India 0 0 1 1
Israel 1 1 1 1
Italy 6 5 9 6
Japan 1 0 3 2
Romania 2 1 3 5
Russia 7 5 14 16
Serbia 3 3 2 2
Slovakia 1 1 3 5
South Africa 1 1 1 0
Spain 16 13 6 4
Sweden 2 1 1 1
Switzerland 2 3 1 2
Ukraine 1 3 4 4
UK 1 1 4 2
US 12 12 5 8
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