Line up completed for this year’s Hopman Cup – Tennis News
French hero, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has signed up for this year’s Hopman Cup to complete a star studded line up for the event. The 25th edition of this tournament will be held at the Perth Arena from December 29, 2012 to
January 5, 2013.
Some of the biggest names which will grace the coming event are the current world number two, Novak Djokovic; seven-time Grand Slam winner, Venus Williams; 2008 French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic; former world number two, Tommy
Haas; Australia’s rising star, Bernard Tomic; and German sensation, Andrea Petkovic.
Steve Ayles, who is the tournament director, said that this will be the strongest field in the history of the Hopman Cup. Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and John Isner are the three male players who are ranked in the top 12 on the
ATP World Tour.
Commenting on the confirmation by top players, Ayles said, “When it comes to January I think we’ll have a pretty strong field. We’ve got three males (ranked) in the top 12 and I think it’s a pretty strong field. There are a lot
of good combinations in there and a lot of teams that will provide a lot of depth to this event.”
Serbia will be the top seed at the event, being represented by Djokovic and Ivanovic. Isner and Venus will make up the team USA. Italy’s team will comprise of the 2010 French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone; and Andreas Seppi.
Fernando Verdasco and Anabel Medina-Garrigues will play for the fourth seeded Spanish team.
Haas and Petkovic will carry the German flag, whereas, South African team will be made up from Kevin Anderson and Chanelle Scheepers. French team will be spearheaded by Tsonga along with a low ranked player, Mathilde Johansson.
Seeded eighth at the event will be team Australia that will be represented by Tomic and Casey Dellacqua.
All the matches of this official mixed teams competition of the ITF will be held at the newly built $550 million Perth Arena. This is one of the reasons that organizers have arranged these attractive players for the event.
Ayles added, “The event will be an outdoor event and the roof will be open unless we have inclement weather conditions. We’ll adopt a similar policy to the Australian Open, which is what the players want. They want to replicate
those conditions and this is one of the areas that we can.”
Czech Republic captured last title but it will not be defending its title this time.
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