Brisbane International: Steve Ayles eyeing Nadal and Federer in 2012
The director of the Brisbane International tennis competition, Steve Ayles is hoping to have tennis greats Roger Federer as well as Rafael Nadal for his emerging event in 2012.
World number five Robin Soderling, who confirmed his participation on Wednesday, will join the last year’s winner Andy Roddick from the United States of America as the headline acts in the men's field towards the start of next
year.
Steve revealed on Wednesday that he is planning to have both Federer and Rafael in 2012. Both of them have already signed a contract to take part in the Qatar, Doha as well as the Middle East Open in January next season.
Once they expire, Steve will try to convince either one or both of them to come to Brisbane with the assistance of the Queensland Government and corporate backers. In a somewhat similar manner, to how Victoria enticed Tigers Woods
to Australia towards the end of 2009.
“Federer and Nadal are both contracted to Doha for three years and as I understand it, those contracts finish after this upcoming event. Unfortunately for Brisbane it is meant we have not been able to get either of them so far
however in 2012 they will be in our sights. There is an opportunity now to have a real crack at them because they are out of those contracts.”
Steve is looking quite hopeful of the possibility of getting the top ranked contenders to Brisbane along with the American tennis sensation Andy Roddick and others such as Novak Djokovic of Serbia who also contested in Brisbane
back in 2009.
The Director was of the view that Brisbane International tournament carries great significance as it serves as a lead up to the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open in Melbourne. Therefore, participation of all the top
ranked players will definitely prove helpful for them in their preparation for the big event in Australia.
Novak Djokovic, who was ranked number three in the world by the Association of tennis professionals when he contested in Brisbane last year, is once again the highest ranked contender to play in the fledgling competition.
Robin Soderling will take part in next year’s Brisbane competition in the presence of strong contenders including the heavily entertaining Marcos Baghdatis who is currently ranked number nineteen in the world, the eighteen ranked
Mardy Fish from the United States of America as well as world number twenty eighth Richard Gasquet of France.
The Swede has claimed Rafael and Roger’s scalps in the last seventeen months, has been a finalist on two occasions in Roland Garros and has gradually improved the ATP rankings on the back of a lifetime best season.
"We thought Roddick would be our number one seed and he will perhaps still end the season with a higher ranking than number ten in the world. However to get Soderling, who was here in 2009, when he has been offered considerably
more to go to competing events in January is a huge boost for Brisbane,” explained the Director.
In the women’s side, the professional tennis player from Australia, Samantha Stosur will be the top seed to win the title in Brisbane. However, Steve is also expecting to have talks with the crowd favourite Jelena Jankovic in the
near future.
He was of the view, that Jelena has been playing some good tennis since her comeback on the tour after her niggling injuries and is therefore hopeful that she would like to take part in next year’s Brisbane event as well.
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