Arina Rodionova has unloaded on Tennis Australia, claiming a private vendetta value her a wildcard into her dwelling grand slam regardless of being the nation’s top-ranked girls’s participant.
Rodionova suffered a straight-sets first-round loss in Australian Open qualifying on Tuesday, then accused the governing physique of inflicting undue stress on gamers – not simply her – by not being clear and awarding the wildcards sooner.
The 34-year-old battled again from a severe wrist harm to dominate the lower-level ITF Tour in 2023, successful 78 matches on her solution to seven titles as her rating surged from No.302 to the brink of the highest 100.
But her hard-earned return to the Aussie No.1 standing counted for nothing when TA handed their fifth and last discretionary wildcard final Friday to fellow Russian-born participant Daria Saville.
“The only regrets I have from today is just I gave Tennis Australia something to celebrate,” Rodionova mentioned after her 6-3 6-4 loss to lower-ranked Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean.
“I think they are very pleased with my result today and that’s what makes me upset.”
Despite being the one Australian to make the second spherical at Wimbledon in 2017 within the proud tennis nation’s worst exhibiting on the All England Club since World War II, Rodionova reckons she’s been an outcast to TA for greater than a decade.
“It started like years and years ago,” the Victorian mentioned.
“There are so many things and instances that happened between myself and people in charge of, like, the head of women’s tennis and other people in Tennis Australia.
“There had been simply so many issues behind the scenes that it is extremely clear to me that I’m not appreciated.
“And it’s not just clear to me, it’s clear to every single Australian tennis player and everyone.
“It’s not precisely a secret, everybody is aware of it and now it is type of humorous that mainly by making this choice they determined to make it public as properly.”
Rodionova has climbed to a career-best world No.105, but was No.112 at the time of the Open main-draw cut-off.
Ironically, after beating recent top-20 star Martina Trevisan last week at the Brisbane International, Rodionova then ousted former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, who will play Saville in Hobart on Wednesday.
“I do not even know the best way to justify the reasoning behind it,” Rodionova mentioned.
“I had a terrific yr. I’ve completed the whole lot I probably might to deserve it. They simply don’t love me merely.”
The wildcard snubbing has also cost Rodionova at least $94,000 – and much more if she’d made an Open run.
But the veteran baseliner insists “it isn’t concerning the cash”, despite admitting the stress of the situation threw her off her game on Tuesday.
“It’s extra concerning the alternative,” Rodionova mentioned.
“I might like to play perhaps one other occasion someplace, in Hobart or Adelaide (this week), and it isn’t even about that.
“I didn’t really have an issue with them not giving it to me. More of an issue was that they left it for so long and they pretended that they were looking at the results in Brisbane.
“I had the very best outcome there (of the Australian girls), so I do not assume they had been taking a look at that. The choice was most likely made earlier than.
“They didn’t want to give it to me, and they should have announced it way before because it just brought such unnecessary stress to myself.
“Also to Dasha (Saville). I spoke to her, she was additionally clearly fascinated with it, and to everybody – there may be a lot extra concerned, like all of the pointless conversations, all of the drama, and that ought to by no means occur.
“It happened the same last year with other girls. They leave it until the last minute, and the girls found out on social media.
“It’s disrespectful in the direction of gamers … they need to inform us a month earlier than.”
Showing there was no place for sentiment, the retiring John Millman was also overlooked for a wildcard despite being the only Australian this century to beat Roger Federer at a grand slam.
But even Millman was more upset at Rodionova’s brushing.
“You cannot be Australia’s top-ranked participant in feminine tennis and be missed,” he informed the ABC.
“Not to say she received 78 matches final yr. She’s gone on the market and proven an unbelievable urge for food for laborious work and successful matches and he or she’s completed it the laborious manner.
“I’m a bit baffled – and I won’t be sitting on the fence with that.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
