Tennis latest; Thiemo de Bakker confirms his participation for the Heineken Open
The 22-year-old Thiemo de Bakker from Netherlands has confirmed his participation for New Zealand's premier men's singles competition, the Heineken Open to be played in January next year.
The right hander, who has been labelled as "by far the biggest talent in Dutch tennis" by the former grass court Grand Slam champion Richard Krajicek, comes to Auckland with a growing reputation.
Some of his fellow players on the tour such as Andy Roddick from the United States of America and Lleyton Hewitt have also called him as a “dangerous contender.”
Ten years after Richard registered his name as the first contender from Netherlands to capture the grass court Grand Slam crown at the All England Club, de Bakker, the heavy hitter also gained the attention of tennis officials
by picking up the Wimbledon junior crown and finishing the 2006 season as the number one junior player in the world.
In spite of the fact that de Bakker has not quite reached the pinnacle of the top twenty rankings yet, the 1.93 meters tall has shown that it might not be too far off.
Currently ranked number 43 in the South African Airways ATP list, Thiemo de Bakker had solid results at Chennai to begin this season reaching the final eight round followed by a third round exit at the Indian Well Masters Series
competition. He also and qualified at the Monte Carlo Masters Series event, advancing into the round two before falling out to world number 1, Rafael Nadal.
His major results in 2010 include semi final appearances at Barcelona and New Heaven. The former world number 40 got the better of Juan Carlos Ferrero and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga before losing to Robin Soderling of Sweden in Barcelona.
The Netherland native posted his best result at the Grand Slam tournaments in 2010 by making his way into the round three at French Open, Wimbledon as well as the US Open in New York.
He will be looking to record his name as the second Dutch player to capture the Heineken Open title after Sjeng Schalken won the crown in the opening year of Heineken sponsorship back in 1999.
"It is clear that de Bakker has a huge amount of potential and has gone some way to proving that. The 2011 Heineken Open could be the tournament which really launches him up the rankings and shows his full ability. He will be a
dangerous player in the draw," says Richard Palmer who is the director of the Heineken Open tennis competition.
Already confirmed for the January 10-15 competitions are the last year winner John Isner, David Ferrer and another former winner Philipp Kohlschrieber.
Tags: