By Linda Pearce
Try to filter Marinko Matosevic and, much like the Australian men's collective attempting to beat Andy Murray, prepare to fail. Matosevic will not, unlike Murray, be getting a female coach. Ever. He will be not be listening to his brother Marko's "no clue" tennis advice, and will tell him so. During matches. Loudly. And he will not be agreeing with Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter, who wants Nick Kyrgios to show greater composure and equanimity on the court.
Kyrgios, says Matosevic, shares his entertainer's spirit, and long may the party rage. "He's a showman. When he's playing he doesn't want to just win, he wants to entertain the masses, and I think he seems to play his best that way," Matosevic said. "The tweener against [Rafael] Nadal: who would try that? Stuff like that. The big second serves, the big game, I love his on-court behaviour. Kind of similar to me; wears his emotions on his sleeve, and I'm big raps on Nick."
The man speaks his mind: Marinko Matosevic reacts to a point in his match against Andy Murray.Credit: Getty Images
Still, as well as it is to entertain, the Matosevic show at grand slam level has been both belated and brief. Among the first of the seven Australian men into the second round - the most since 1988 - he could go no further. Having lost his first 12 matches in the majors, Matosevic has now won three of his past seven, but still never passed the second round.
Murray, the ultimate professional, who couldn't give, well, a toss about being an entertainer, yanked the curtain down firmly on Wednesday, winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in 81 minutes. Thus, world No.81 Matosevic still has not won a set from Murray in three matches, and Murray has not lost a tour-level duel among his 10 against Australians.
The sixth seed, Olympic gold medallist and 2013 Wimbledon champion rather diplomatically forecast he would have some difficulty retaining his flawless record against Aussies when some of the "fantastic" crop of emerging players matures. Matosevic has come late to the top 100, peaking at 39th in 2013. As for maturity, well, perhaps best to refer to previous reports about locals blooming late.
He started horribly, losing the first set in just 21 minutes. Unforced errors: 16-1. Not one for the show-reel. Nor were the next two, but they were better, even if Matosevic lamented what he described as his worst serving performance in years, and was not much happier with his money shot, the return.
He thinks Murray, a three-time Australian Open finalist, can win the title, despite no man in the Open era doing so after finishing runner-up three times. Then again, no British man's name had been engraved on the Wimbledon men's trophy in 77 years until Murray's was, either.
At Queen's Club last year, soon after Murray's appointment of Amelie Mauresmo, the British tabloids feasted on the Australian's declaration that he was a man's man, in that respect. So he remains. "No, my opinion still hasn't changed on that, and it won't be changing," Matosevic said. "It's a different sport. I feel like women's tennis, it's a different sport to men's tennis."
For Murray, there was no extra point to prove. "No. I get on well with Marinko. I spoke to him a little bit about what he said. He didn't mean any harm. Everyone's entitled to their opinion on anything. If he wants to get coached by a man, that's absolutely fine. I have absolutely no issue with it at all. I still think he's a good guy."
Yet if much is ahead for Murray, only doubles remains for Matosevic, whose first-round win stands as his only official singles victory in January. Even so, he would swap it for last year's month-long effort, when he reached the last eight in both Brisbane and Sydney, before losing in five sets at Melbourne Park to Kei Nishikori.
"If you asked me would I take one round here versus quarters, quarters, last year, I'd take the one round here for sure," said Matosevic, who was clearly less inclined to take anything brother Marko had to offer. "I could hear his voice the whole time, and he's got no clue about tennis and he's trying to tell me stuff, and I was 'oh, please'. Rubbish stuff like 'focus' and all this stuff and I'm like 'yeah'."