Tennis latest - Philipp Kohlschreiber confirms his participation in Auckland
The professional tennis player from Germany Philipp Kohlschreiber will make a comeback for another tilt at winning January's Heineken Open Men’s singles competition in Auckland.
The right hander may have been the surprise champion two years ago, however, he has now improved his game a great deal and has reached the semi-final round in an ATP tour level competition once and quarter finals thrice along with a single opening round
defeat.
Philipp confirmed his Auckland participation on Tuesday. "I always like to play in Auckland. I always get my confidence in the start of the season. So that is why I like to come back. It is simply a great championship,” reflected the 27-year-old.
The Augsburg born who made his debut on the ATP World Tour back in 2001has so far won a total of six doubles and two single titles in his career. The German achieved his career highest ranking of world number twenty two back in September last year. Philipp
is sponsored by Wilson and Adidas.
World number thirty four in his previous appearance in Auckland posted two straight victories over Thomaz Bellucci and Marc Gicquel of France before losing at the hands of Arnaud Clement in the semi final round. He next competed at the years’ first Grand
Slam, the Australian Open in Melbourne, where the German tennis ace was bundled out of the event by the current world number one Rafael Nadal after a hard fought four-setter battle. The final score line was 6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5.
In his recent performance in Hamburg, Philipp was crushed in the third round by Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil in straight sets. He is currently playing under the coaching supervision of Miles Maclagan.
He captured the Auckland title back in 2008 after getting the better of former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The director of the competition, Richard Palmer while commenting on Philipp’s confirmation on Tuesday said, "Philipp is a real entertainer and great to watch. His record in the championship is one of the best of any player. He adds depth to any tournament
and it will be great to have him returning again.”
The professional tennis star, John Isner from the United States of America has already confirmed his presence at the event which also serves as a warm-up to the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open in Melbourne.
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