Tennis Update: Three of Top Ten return to 2011 Brisbane International
With less than a month left in the start of the next tennis season, the 32 player main draw for the men’s singles is almost complete. Notable names of tennis have confirmed their participation in the season opener next year.
Although the top two, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are absent from the Brisbane line up, other stars have confirmed their entry into the 2011 Brisbane International. Director Steve Ayles commented that the strength of this year’s
playing field is truly spectacular. Talking to the press he said, “It seems to be getting bigger each year. It’s great to see some of the big names from the last couple of years return and to see some champions sign on for the first time. The strength
in the playing field really says a lot about the calibre of the event, the city and the way that the tournament is run. It’s going to be exciting to see how each player performs and who can start the year off with a title win in Brisbane and set themselves
up for a great run heading into the Australian Open.”
Returning to the Brisbane line up is defending champion American Andy Roddick. The top seed, last year, Roddick moved past Aussies Peter Luczak and Carsten Ball, and French Richard Gasquet to meet Czech Tomas Berdych in the semis.
He moved past Berdych to meet Berdych’s compatriot Radek Stepanek in the finals. He finished the season with another title win at the Miami Masters. The Texan also made an appearance at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals though he failed to make it past the
first round. Add that to the final appearances at the Indian Wells Masters and San Jose, the American finished his season with a 48-18 win-loss mark and an ATP ranking of 8.
The highest ranked player to return to the Brisbane International is Swede Robin Soderling. Currently ranked at number 5, the Swede also made an appearance at the season finale event with Roddick, ending up with similar fate. He
won two maiden titles in the 2010 season, winning the ATP 500 series event at Rotterdam and then a Masters title at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. He also made final appearances at Bastad, Barcelona and the prestigious Roland Garros. Although he reached
his career high of 4th in the ATP Rankings after winning the Paris Masters, he lost this position to Brit Andy Murray the following week after failing to make it to semis at the London finals. Finishing off the season with a win-loss mark of 57-22,
Soderling looks to improve his run in 2011 starting with the season opener at Brisbane. Although he did not compete in the 2010 event, he did make a quarterfinal run in 2009.
Currently ranked at number nine, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco also confirmed his participation in the event. Failing to play in 2010, Verdasco had a successful run in the 2009 event making it all the way to the finals. Winning at
Barcelona and San Jose, Verdasco finished his season with two title wins. He failed to make it into the season finale after his defeat to Gael Monfils in the Paris Masters.
Top players not returning this year include last year’s third seed Gael Monfils and world number 6 Berdych. In addition, no news of 4th Andy Murray, 7th David Ferrer and 3rd Novak Djokovic have
been received for the event.
Those returning to Brisbane next year include Marcos Baghdatis, Mardy Fish and Radek Stepanek. Ayles is not worried about the toppers not playing in the event. He believes all those serious for preparing for the Grand Slam event,
are here. He said, "Pretty much, the players that are really serious about the Australian Open and about performing well at the Australian Open, they're going to want to play in the conditions that are most similar. Here you play on the same surface, same
balls, similar climate and time zone. Players like Roddick or (Fernando) Verdasco could make a lot more money playing in a different event. They've chosen this event purely for preparation. I think that's the one advantage we have over Hong Kong, Hopman, the
Middle East."
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