Controversy erupts over De Minaur and Barty's joint Newcombe Medal
The decision to name Alex de Minaur and Ash Barty joint Newcombe medallists has been slammed by a number of tennis fans and pundits.
Judges were unable to split the two young guns after both enjoyed stellar seasons, ensuring Australian tennis’s highest individual honour was shared for the first time in the award’s nine-year history.
“It was extremely difficult to make the decision. In the end, we did the only sensible thing; for the first time we have dual medallists,” tennis legend John Newcombe said.
Barty is only the second multiple recipient of the award, joining Samantha Stosur (2010, 2011, 2012), after ending 2018 as Australia’s highest-ranked player at No.15 in the world.
Last year’s Newcombe medallist won the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, another singles title on grass in Nottingham as well as four doubles titles – including her maiden grand slam alongside American Coco Vandeweghe in New York.
“It’s been a truly phenomenal year. It was a massive goal of mine to stay top 20 and a bonus to finish top 15,” Barty told AAP.
“Obviously the elusive top 10 is right there.”
The 22-year-old amassed 46 singles wins for the season, reaching the Sydney final, semi-finals in Strasbourg, Montreal and Wuhan and making a career-best fourth-round run at the US Open in addition to her two title successes.
On paper, Barty appeared to have a slightly better year than de Minaur, who was named the ATP’s Newcomer of the Year following his meteoric rise from No.208 to a career-high 31st in the rankings in 2018.
The 19-year-old’s breakout season began with runs to the Brisbane semi-finals the Sydney final and a Davis Cup debut against Germany.
He also reached the Washington final before rounding out his year with a runner-up showing at Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
However, a number of fans were left fuming that de Minaur snared the award and Barty missed out on receiving it by herself.
There was also some disdain that if they were going to award joint winners, the other finalists Dylan Alcott and John Millman should have been recognised.
#ATP #WTA The Newcombe Medal pretty much lost the remaining credibility it had by awarding two medals to Alex De Minaur and Ash Barty.
If you were going to do that, Dylan Alcott should have also one.
He won two grand slam titles and his profile lifts the sport of tennis.
— Shane Jones (@southendaussies) November 27, 2018
#WTA #ATP The award should have been given to Ash Barty anyway… How someone has to share an award with a top 35 player after winning two WTA titles and a grand slam doubles title is ridiculous. She's also top 15 in both singles and doubles. It's crazy it was shared. Crazy.
— Shane Jones (@southendaussies) November 27, 2018
How does de Minaur finish equal with Barty in a category described as “most outstanding elite tennis player and ambassador for the sport”. She won 2 singles & 4 doubles titles (incl US Open) and won US Open sportsmanship award. He flew up the rankings but won no titles
— Dave Brown (@diogenesbrown) November 26, 2018
It was like an encouragement award for him.
If the situation was reversed and a male player had Barty's results, would a female player with de Minaur's results tie with him???
— Ian Harkin (@sportznut67) November 26, 2018
She was the pick HANDS DOWN… HANDS UP… hands every which way, but the ‘selectors’ had a screw loose.
Should we be surprised?
Nah. Par for the course nonsense in Australian Sports Administration.
Why should tennis 🎾 be different?— gregor lewis (@suepesas) November 26, 2018
“This is something I definitely did not expect. I’m super proud of my efforts,” de Minaur said.
On track for a first-time grand slam seeding at the Australian Open, de Minaur said achieving “bigger and better things” was his modest goal for 2019.
“It’s just about improving,” he said.
“If you put the work in off court, the work will show on court so it’s all about day by day and enjoying the moment.”
“I feel like the level’s there.
“I’ve been close against the top guys and now it’s time to learn from the mistakes I did against those guys and hopefully I can get over the line in those big matches.”
with AAP