WIMBLEDON, England – Now that U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur is gone, too, this is the first time since 1939 that zero Australian men or women reached the third round at Wimbledon.
Stosur lost in the second round at the All England Club on Wednesday, beaten 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 by 72nd-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.
A total of nine players from Australia entered the grass-court Grand Slam tournament this year, and Stosur was the only one to even win one match — the other four women and all four men lost in the first round.
"It's a pretty woeful performance by all of us, but it's not through lack of trying or not wanting to be here or anything like that. I think it's just one of those things that's happened," Stosur said. "I think you have to look at something on a whole, for a longer period of time than just one event, to say that we're in this dire straits kind of mode right now."
Stosur was seeded fifth and was a semifinalist at the French Open this month.
But she has never had much success at the All England Club. She lost in the first round in 2010 and 2011, and only once has been as far as the third round in 10 appearances, in 2009.
"Of course it can be better," Stosur said about Australia's showing at Wimbledon this year. "Myself and all the other players that I'm sure we can speak for wish we had a better tournament."
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.