Matthew Ebden: WA tennis player
January 24th 2011 12:28
Part one:
Matthew Ebden: who would have thought?
I’m in the mood for musing and reflecting on my glorious past since this afternoon is quite possibly the most excruciating in recent memory. Why did I quit the wonderous existence of unemployment for the drudgery of the working life? No fucking idea.
Four years ago, while I was a young and upcoming sports journo on some no balls website, I covered a local tennis tournament in Sorrento, featuring the best of the worst hack players in the State.
I wasn’t deterred by the players’ crummy abilities and useless prospects. Nevertheless I made the long trek to boganville (I consider anywhere North of Perth a “no go” zone) to enhance my work experience in the pursuit of a promising career as a reputable sports journalist.
I could relate to the players. Here was a batch of young players, striving to win this crummy event (and the $25 cash prize packet of chips and dips on offer) in a bid for hope. Hope that there actually might be a chance to make the cut in the gruelling world of professional tennis. Maybe a win in this event could fuel belief for the young players to tackle the higher-profile tournaments with confidence.
And here was I. Fresh faced out of uni. Ambitious. Motivated in my potential career. Now years later, reality has sunk it. Journalism is a filthy, dog ridden industry filled with the biggest egomaniacal self-absorbed turds on the planet. And I can’t get enough of it, despite the difficulty of landing a gig due to ancient grumps clinging onto their self-worth and young wankers getting the golden ticket through “connections”.
But while my career has flatlined, the winner of the Sorrento Crappic has seemingly been revived after years in the wilderness. Seriously four years ago if you told me Matthew Ebden would one-day be touted as a future Australian tennis prospect I would not only have had to wipe away the tears from laughing fit but would have lamented the state of tennis in this proud sporting country. While, admittedly the latter is still true, Australian tennis is in the shits, Ebden (23) has made major inroads in his game and has the top 100 in his sights after reaching the quarters in Brisbane and winning a set in the first round of the Australian Open.
Wait a second. Back that up. Top 100? Ebden. The scrawny sack of shit, who barely had a hint of power, speed or athleticism four years ago? His only redeeming feature was that he was able to consistently keep the ball into play and wait for his dud opponents to make the mistake. A radio commentary would go something like this: Ebden serves to X’s backhand, who returns meekly into Ebden’s forehand who hits softly just over the net but X can’t control the volley and it goes into the net. Point after fucking point that commentary would repeat.
I was alone in the press section (a wooden uncomfortable bench adjoined to a cracked brick wall) scribbling drawings on my notebook and fiddling with my phone to pass the time. In the wonderful world of objective journalism, I knew I would have to pump the shit out of this report and write the opening par something like this: Young gun Matthew Ebden has showcased his burgeoning talents with an impressive victory at the Sorrento Classic today. Or some bullshit like that. Really not very objective now, is it? But I didn’t want to rock the boat and bend the formula of old school journalism.
To be continued…….
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Comment by Gabe Lock
LopsidedSports