Despite producing world champions in all manner of different sporting disciplines, Ireland still seeks its first major tennis star to come from the Emerald Isle.
Arguments about the wrong climate and a lack of tennis ‘culture’ in the country can be shot down when we look across the Irish Sea to England and Scotland, where a number of Grand Slam champions have been born and raised.
Anecdotal discussions about Ireland’s relatively small population size, from which it’s consequently harder to cultivate sporting stars, can also be put to bed when we remember that one of the most decorated tennis champions of all time – Novak Djokovic – comes from a country (Serbia) that’s a similar size to Ireland.
So why hasn’t the Emerald Isle produced an elite-level tennis player?
Holding Out for a Hero
Even at the age of 36, Djokovic is still one of the leading campaigners in men’s tennis, with the Serb priced at 6/4 in the tennis odds for today to win the US Open, with the likes of Daniil Medvedev (6/1) and Frances Tiafoe (33/1) also in contention.
Novak Djokovic claims his third French Open title
He becomes the first man in tennis history to win all four major tournaments three or more times pic.twitter.com/nmnWniZbxd
— ESPN (@espn) June 11, 2023
Of the leading candidates, perennial tennis powerhouses like Spain, Russia and the USA are well represented, while Italy, Germany and even Norway could soon have a Grand Slam champion of their own.
But Ireland? Such a notion remains a pipedream.
A study by professors at DCU found that many prospective sporting stars are inspired by role models from their own country, whose success acts as confirmation that a career in that particular sport is viable.
When it comes to tennis in Ireland, there just isn’t a long lineage of players that have fashioned careers on the global stage – making it much harder for an aspiring player to visualise success of their own, which may drive them to take up football, rugby, golf or another sport instead.
From the Grand Slam winning Irish team at the 2023 Six Nations to Shane Lowry’s Open Championship victory on home soil in 2019, sporting heroes in Ireland are not too hard to find…
It’s time to celebrate in Ireland! Shane Lowry is the 2019 Open Champion! pic.twitter.com/sw6UZfSS4x
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) July 21, 2019
Who are the Best Irish Tennis Players?
Ireland has only ever had one singles player ranked inside the top 100 – and even he was, technically, from America.
Matt Doyle was born and raised in California, switching to represent Ireland – thanks to his ancestry – at the age of 30. The right-hander would play in all four Grand Slam events, reaching the fourth round of the US Open in 1982, while reaching a world ranking high of 65.
Claire Curran would perhaps have gone even higher than that, but serious injuries blighted her career. She was instead forced to focus on the doubles, twice reaching the second round of Wimbledon with James Auckland while representing Great Britain in the Fed Cup.
Conor Niland and Louk Sorensen are just two other Irish tennis players to compete in Grand Slam tournaments, but at the time of writing that’s as good as it’s got.
Will that situation change for tennis in Ireland in the years ahead?