Finding one's voice- on and off the court

For someone who won such an emphatic electoral victory just over two months ago Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has been remarkably quiet. Having lived through the carnage of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, Albanese is devoted to avoiding any signs of triumphalism.

His election victory was as resounding as the defeat his government suffered in advocating support for a  referendum proposing the establishment of a constitutional Voice to Parliament for Australia’s indigenous community in October 2023.

Since his election victory, attention has been given to whether Mr. Albanese would be able to give voice to Australia’s concern about trade, tariffs et al in a personal meeting with Donald Trump.  A proposed meeting alongside the world’s G7 leaders was cancelled when events in the Middle East intervened.

This weekend Mr. Albanese has finally given voice to some of his ambitions and objectives. He has declared that the private business sector must resume their primacy in generating economic growth. Is he too late in stating the obvious, given the drag that public sector employment, government regulation and union demands already place on the economy?

Yesterday, after a night of disgusting antisemitic behaviour in Melbourne which saw the entrance to a synagogue torched and an Israeli restaurant attacked, the Prime Minister gave voice to the need to combat such behaviour with every force. Regrettably,  the Prime Minister did not deliver this message many months earlier when such behaviour began in response to the Gazan conflict. It is quite simple: in Australia, a country based on the democratic rule of law, protest about the Israeli government’s response to the Hamas incursion, is no excuse for wholesale vilification of a race.

Trump continues in his unscripted and often splenetic manner to give voice on many matters. His aim is triumphalism at every turn. This week he has lauded the passage of his ‘Big Beautiful” Bill through the Congress. Supporters of the legislation see it as the consolidation of Trump’s ‘tax cut, reduced government spending’ economic agenda. Its critics, most notably Elon Musk, whom Trump has placed in political purgatory, view the Bill as a reckless folly which adds unimaginable amounts of money to America’s unfathomable debt through cruelly disadvantaging the already disadvantaged.

Many Congress members gave voice in debate about the Bill, including Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. In seeking to delay the passage of the legislation, Jeffries

spoke in a filibuster motion for a record eight and three-quarterhours.

No Grand Slam tennis match has lasted as long as Jeffries’ oration. Nevertheless, away from the glare and lights of Centre Court and Court One, there have been some grand contests at Wimbledon. For mine, the match of the tournament so far was a third-round contest between Portugal’s Nuno Borges and the ‘stateless’ Karen Khachanov.  

The match lasted just under four hours with Khachanov prevailing 10-8 in a fifth set match tie-break. The crowd’s sympathy was with Borges, especially given the tragic death of Portuguese and Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota a day earlier.

Khachanov, who has  formerly been ranked in the Top 10, traded exquisite shots in extended rallies with Borges in a match played in wonderful spirit. Sport at its best.

The champion of a Grand Slam tennis tournament is one who best gives voice to their talents on the court. So, whose game will speak the loudest in a week’s time?

The Ladies’ tournament is predictably unpredictable. With yesterday’s defeat of Krejcikova, there are no former champions left in the draw. England’s Emma Raducanu, who found her tennis voice through winning the US Open as a qualifier in 2021, led top-seed Sabalenka 4-2 in the first set of their third-round match and had points for a 5-2 in the second set before losing 6-7, 4-6. Remarkably, it was Sabalenka, often known for the lack of a consistent and calm voice on court, who rallied and recovered to beat the challenger.

One would think that either Sabalenka or Swiatek would take the title; however, we are only at the fourth round! Of the 16 remaining players, 6 are unseeded and only four are seeded in the top ten!

In the Men’s tournament it is a mixture of old and new voices that seem destined to make it to the final weekend. Australians will be hoping that the most successful of the older voices, Novak Djokovic, will be silenced by Alex de Minaur in their forthcoming fourth round match. De Minaur will have to become the mouse that roared to defeat the seven-time champion. The pair were scheduled to meet in a quarter-final last year, before injury forced de Minaur to withdraw before a ball was struck. De Minaur is twelve years younger, but the persona, resolution and power of Djokovic will be hard to overcome.  

Marin Cilic, the 2017 finalist, is having a revival, defeating England’s fourth seed, Jack Draper, en route to the fourth round.  Journeyman Grigor Dimitrov has also made it to the fourth round. Alcaraz has looked far from convincing in contrast to Sinner, but will no doubt enjoy the fact that Sinner and Djokovic are seeded to meet in a semi-final. Sinner next plays Ben Shelton, who has voice and attitude. Alcaraz plays the entirely unreliable and often voluble redhead, Andrey Rublev.

Australia has one other player left in the Singles’ draws.  Jordan Thompson has a fourth round encounter against America’s Taylor Fritz. A finalist in last year’s US Open, Fritz has shown resolve and is favoured to win through to his third Wimbledon quarter-final in four years.

Only miles away from Wimbledon, English Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has reached the first anniversary of his election. One would think that with his massive parliamentary majority, there would be cause for celebration. Yet, the PM and his government is not having a happy birthday. His government’s voice appears muted, confused, and contradictory.

In a world of innumerable voices, some of whom are so presumptuous to call themselves “influencers,” there is no guarantee as to whose will be heard or considered credible. This is another reason to enjoy the final week of Wimbledon; for, after all, it will be the racquets that do the talking.