Hewitt to debut at Kooyong

In a last-ditch bid to win the Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt has radically altered his preparation for his home grand slam and will play the Kooyong Classic lead-up tournament for the first time.

But reigning Open champion Roger Federer will again be a no-show, electing to play once more in Doha, while there is only a slim possibility that world No.1 Rafael Nadal will accept an invitation.

However Hewitt, ranked 49th in the world, and five top-15 players for have already been confirmed for the eight-man shoot-out from January 12-15.

Czech Tomas Berdych, Russian Mikhail Youzhny, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils have agreed to play.

Hewitt is still recovering from a hand injury which forced him to pull out of the recent Davis Cup tie against Belgium in Cairns but, according to his manager David Drysdale, is making steady progress and will be a force when fully fit.

"His hand is still healing from the ligament strain and he will start hitting again in November," Drysdale said.

"That fire is still alive. A lot of people have written him off but he's got a couple of good years in him yet," Drysdale said.

Kooyong Classic tournament director Colin Stubs said he had offered Hewitt a place in the tournament perhaps 10 times but the South Australian had always preferred to play elsewhere.

Stubs believes Hewitt now feels that a different preparation may give the former US Open and Wimbledon champion a better shot at his home major.

"Nothing else has worked in relation to the Australian Open to his ultimate satisfaction," Stubs said.

"I'm being told he wants to vary his preparation for the Australian Open and I'm drawing a conclusion that that has to be the reason.

"He still thinks he's capable of winning the Australian Open and he wants to try something different.

"He's played Sydney and won it about four times, he's played the Hopman Cup in Adelaide a couple of times andthat hasn't produced the result but there might well be other reasons he hasn't won like a tough draw, the schedule. Lots of things can come to screw you up.

"But for a start, here he's in the same city, he's got a place somewhere here.

"He's got a gym available here for him, the court here if he wants to practise in privacy away from the hustle and bustle at Melbourne Park.

"And he's got at least three tough matches against quality opposition. This is a very even field this year, there are no bunnies in it.

"The lowest-ranked player here is Lleyton but you'd have to say that he's dangerous against anybody on a given day," Stubs said.

Stubs said he was confident of snaring Swede Robin Soderling but admitted Nadal was virtually out of reach.

"With Nadal, I'm not very confident but I've got to put the oar in because that's what I do.

"Nadal, we know he's got a history of not playing anything the week before a grand slam. He's got knee problems, lots of good reasons for him not to play."

Stubs said Federer had declined after winning the Australian Open last year with a preparation in the United Arab Emirates.

"He's got a place in Dubai, so it suits him," he said.

http://au.eurosport.com/tennis/australi … tory.shtml

Fed-Expresso napisał:

Gdzie jest k****a Daniel?! .

On zagra tylko i wyłącznie w Abu Zabi

Wolne miejsca dla Melzera i Dawidienki.

Ostatnio edytowany przez Art (30-12-2010 00:16:41)

Postcard from Kooyong: Second tier in spotlight


Verdasco won the Kooyong exhibition tournament last season.

KOOYONG, Australia—There was some “piz” and a lot of “zazz” missing when the AAMI Classic exhibition at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club was launched with a reception at the club on Tuesday in Melbourne. With no Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray, the pizzazz factor is definitely at an all-time low for the eight-man, pre-Aussie Open warm-up.

“We’ve got six guys between [No.] 6-13 (Tomas Berdych, Fernando Verdasco, Mikhail Youzhny, Jurgen Melzer, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) and a Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion (Lleyton Hewitt) and Nikolay Davydenko, one of the most consistent players who was ranked as high as No. 3,” said tournament director Colin Stubbs, making the best of it.

There will also be at least one guest appearance by Murray, and possibly others, although definitely not by Federer

One of the most laid-back exhibitions anywhere at any time of the year, the eight players are picking up a little cash and hoping to fine-tune their games before the year’s first Grand Slam begins next Monday.

Former player Wayne Arthurs did brief interviews with the eight players as they sat at the front of the room on a dais. Here is some of what was said in occasionally light-hearted exchanges with the man who possessed one of the most wicked left-handed serves in tennis history:

Hewitt claimed that his three-month old daughter Ava is “sleeping through the night, so that’s good.” The Aussie also said the right things, claiming it was nice to play at Kooyong, home of the Australian Open until 1986, because “so many of my idols were able to win the Australian Open here.”

Asked about the chances of getting back into the top 10, the No. 56-ranked Hewitt said, “It’s hard to say. I’m not playing as many tournaments as the top guys. At lot depends on how I do in the four big ones (the Grand Slams), ranking isn’t important. If I do what I can in those tournaments, and stay healthy, the ranking will take care of itself.”

He added, “I’ve trained hard and usually there are little niggles, but I didn’t have any.”

Davydenko was the comic of the group, interrupting Melzer when the 29-year-old Austrian talked about getting older. “If you’re old, maybe I’m a grandfather,” joked the Russian, 11 days younger than Melzer.

Coming off his win over Nadal last weekend in the Doha semifinals, Davydenko had a little fun, casually saying, “I beat Nadal many times. It’s not a big deal.”

He continued, “I haven’t got any injuries anymore and I feel good but I have to defend quarterfinals from last year. After that, I didn’t play any clay courts. I just hope there’s no injuries anymore.”

Tsonga was next and said, “I’ve tried to recover from my (knee) injury and I feel good and had fun (semifinal loss to Federer) in Doha.”

Monfils, seated next to his pal Tsonga, was late arriving. “I overslept,” said Monfils, “I just got here two days ago.” Monfils explained that he had taken two-and-a-half weeks off after the Davis Cup final—“I needed it, for my body and especially my knees.” That included a trip to Mauritius.

The m.c. of the media conference introduced Melzer by saying that he had the best combined singles and doubles ranking of anyone. “That’s nice, but there’s no ranking for that,” the Austrian said in response. Asked if reaching the French Open semis in singles or winning the Wimbledon doubles title was bigger for him in 2010, Melzer said, “it’s winning the Wimbledon doubles. Then you can call yourself a Wimbledon champion. I’m the only man in Austria who can say that.”

Youzhny has been with his coach Boris Sobkin for 18 years. When it was suggested that Sobkin was like a father to him, Youzhny smiled and said, “we don’t have a relationship like father and son, it’s enough that he’s my coach.” About the relationship, he said, “it’s not easy. It’s been a long time but we always find new ways to make it better.”

Verdasco is the defending champion, but even he conceded, “it’s not like the pressure when you have to defend points at other tournaments. You just try to play good tennis and get a better rhythm for the Australian Open.”

With a World Cup soccer triumph, Nadal’s victories in tennis and other successes, Verdasco said about 2010, “It was the best year by far in the history of sport in Spain. Just to be one of many athletes from Spain is great.”

Verdasco spent two weeks in Las Vegas recently training with Andre Agassi’s fitness guru Gil Reyes. When Arthurs asked him if he could bench press as much as Reyes, Verdasco said Reyes could do 550 pounds but that he could probably only lift about half of that.

The last interviewed player was Berdych, who had the worst posture, slumping his 6-foot-5 frame into his chair. Asked about being top seed at Kooyong, Berdych said, “it’s the result of my previous season.” Generally, Berdych seemed very relaxed and told of how a few fans had showed up to greet him at the airport in Prague when he returned after the 2010 Wimbledon final. But you didn’t get the impression he was especially fired up for a repeat of 2011, when he made the final of Wimbledon, the semifinals of the French Open and reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 6.

Subject to various factors such as forecasted rain, injuries and guest appearances, the opening day’s line-up on Wednesday is supposed to be Verdasco-Monfils, Hewitt-Youzhny, Berdych-Davydenko and Melzer-Tsonga.

http://www.tennis.com/articles/template … 3&zoneid=9

Wyniki dzisiejsze :

Gael Monfils (FRA) def. Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 46 76 64
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) def. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 75 46 64
Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) def. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 75 36 63

--------------------------------------------

Plan gier na czwartek :
01:00
Jurgen Melzer vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
followed by
Lleyton Hewitt vs. Nikolay Davydenko
followed by
Tomas Berdych vs. Mikhail Youzhny

Nie żałuj bo nie było na co patrzeć.

FINAŁ:
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) def. Gael Monfils (FRA) 7-5 6-3

Mecz o 3 miejsce:
Jurgen Melzer (AUT) def. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 7-6 6-2