Andrew Coelho is disappointed Tennis Australia officials did not award him a discretionary spot in this week’s Australian Open wildcard playoff. 25709By Marc McGowan
TENNIS Australia officials have left Endeavour Hills tennis player Andrew Coelho “stunned” after overlooking him for a spot in this week’s Australian Open wildcard play-off.
The 21-year-old has competed in the tournament for the past three years and reached the final as a teenager in 2005.
But Coelho’s decision to quit his Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship two months ago appears to have cost him a place in the event.
AIS head coach Brent Larkham said the selectors had followed a youth policy.
“We had an exciting selection of younger players to choose from this year who were very impressive in junior nationals,” he said.
“Unfortunately, with Andrew’s age and current ranking, he just missed out on a wildcard into the play-off.”
Players inside the world’s top 250 gained automatic inclusion in the wildcard play-off. Tennis Australia officials awarded other spots to top juniors, strong performers at the Optus 18s Australian Championships and players just outside the ranking cut-off.
Coelho, who is ranked 331, required discretionary entry into the competition, but 23-year-old Marinko Matosevic (ranked 293), from Dandenong, and 21-year-old Matthew Ebden (332) look to have beaten him to a place.
Coelho’s career-high ranking of 281, which he reached last month, is better than both Matosevic and Ebden have achieved.
“A few of the guys who are older than me missed out as well, but it came as a bit of a shock to me because my results lately have been really good,” he said.
“A couple of the guys they put in there … maybe there should have been some guys ahead of them.”
Twenty-year-old former Australian Open junior finalist Nick Lindahl (329), 22-year-old Miles Armstrong (350) and 23-year-old Adam Feeney (365) also missed out.
Coelho’s coach, Andrew Florent, was more circumspect about the news.
“It obviously would have been nice to have been selected, but over the year he’s only really done well in Australian tournaments,” Florent said.
“At the end of the day there are two ways you can look at it. You can sit back and sulk or be disappointed and put your head down and work hard and prove them wrong.
“A wildcard is a gift from Tennis Australia and you get a lot more satisfaction when you do it on your own and that’s what he’s going to do.”
Florent, who reached a world ranking of 13 in doubles in 2001, will not travel with Coelho next year due to his coaching commitments with the 12-and-under boys’ national academy and Wesley College.
“Andrew’s in a really good place mentally. He’s 21 now and is able to make his own decisions and (now he’s left the AIS) he can grow up and make his own decisions,” Florent said.
“He seems a lot happier and that has shown in his recent results. We have a really close relationship and I’m a bit more of a mentor than anything else.”
Coelho will play an Australian Money Tournament at Melbourne Park this week before targeting next month’s Australian Open qualifying.
“There’s only really tournaments in Brisbane and Sydney (before the Australian Open) and those two are really strong,” he said.
”I might stay home and train for the Open and get ready for the Challengers and Futures tournaments after that.
“This has definitely given me a lot more motivation to try and prove them wrong and work even harder.”
