[Gastonleruanich]

Go Russia! All the way, baby! Though I'll be okay if Serena wins her match.

I wonder if Domi is already making plans to borrow one of Hrbaty's holy shirts?

[Pharmaciest]

That's what I was wondering...very strange!

Really, not strange at all. Both of the Serbian ladies are allready committed to other event$.

Jelena is part of this new Hong Kong Challenge (replacing Watson Water, which has paid players such as Maria over 1Million to apppear in the past) that is featuring 4 teams of three representing different corners of the world (Venus, Sania and Maria Sharapova are the other team captains) - it runs Jan 7-10, which conflicts directly with the Hopman Final.

and Ana (and Novak) were announced as the first pros committed to the Brisbane International, which is a new event on the calendar. It's a combined mens/womens event, replacing Adelaide and Gold Coast. Ana has family in Australia, and loves playing there, and I'm $ure the Brisbane organizers wanted to en$ure they had a big name for their debut, and were quite per$ua$ive when it came to Ana.

[AmfitNom]

Definitely a set of fun teams to watch - looking forward to seeing some of these (assuming Tennis Channel is covering).

No Serbian team?

Djokovic is supposedly going to Brisbane which is why he wouldn't be playing Hopman

[letittbe]

Really, not strange at all. Both of the Serbian ladies are allready committed to other event$.

Jelena is part of this new Hong Kong Challenge (replacing Watson Water, which has paid players such as Maria over 1Million to apppear in the past) that is featuring 4 teams of three representing different corners of the world (Venus, Sania and Maria Sharapova are the other team captains) - it runs Jan 7-10, which conflicts directly with the Hopman Final.

and Ana (and Novak) were announced as the first pros committed to the Brisbane International, which is a new event on the calendar. It's a combined mens/womens event, replacing Adelaide and Gold Coast. Ana has family in Australia, and loves playing there, and I'm $ure the Brisbane organizers wanted to en$ure they had a big name for their debut, and were quite per$ua$ive when it came to Ana.

I guess the team of Boris Pashanski and Ana Jovanovic weren´t recruited as heavily by Hopman Cup?


I'll be shocked if Marat plays, regardless of his 2009 plans.

[gactanync]

Can't wait to see Dina-Marat in action, if they end up playing
:eatingpopcorn:

[Breevereurl]

If these teams hold, this could be an awesome Hopman Cup.
I'm really excited about all the teams, especially Marat and Dina and Flavia and Simone.

[v74ClzKY]

Chinese Taipei and Japan are frontrunners for the 8th spot in the Asian Hopman Cup tournament, so my sources tell me.

Would be cool if Nishikori and Sugiyama played. Take your son to work day on the courts.

[AmfitNom]

To answer a few earlier questions:



The last team will be a qualifying team from Asia. A few Asian countries (India, Thailand, Korea, etc) participate in a playoff to determine who gets the last spot. There won't be a Serb team, because I'm pretty sure Ana and Jelena are both entered in the Hong Kong exhibition tournament (along with Venus, Maria, and others), and if I'm not mistaken that tournament is going on at the same time as Hopman Cup.

Also, in case Marat does indeed "retire"... Andreev is prepared to be the alternate for Hopman Cup if necessary. I'd love to see Marat and Dinara team up though! Williams/Blake vs Safina/Safin... can't get much better than that in mixed doubles!


Group A

USA: Serena Williams and James Blake ( 1st seeded )

Australia: Casey Dellacqua and Lleyton Hewitt ( 4th seeded )

Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty

Germany: Sabine Lisicki and Nicolas Kiefer


Group B

Russia: Dinara Safina and Marat Safin ( 2nd seeded )

France: Alize Cornet and Gilles Simon ( 3rd seeded )

Italy: Flavia Pennetta and Simone Bolelli

Asia Qualifier: ( Thailand / Chinese Taipei / India / China / Korea / Kazakhstan )






PERTH, Australia: Serena Williams and James Blake will represent the top-seeded United States in the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis tournament, organizers said Tuesday.

Williams and Blake combined to win the 2003 Hopman Cup — one of four titles for the United States in the 20-year history of the event.

Lleyton Hewitt and Casey Dellacqua are scheduled to represent Australia in the Jan. 3-9 tournament.

Dominika Cibulkova will partner Dominik Hrbaty for Slovakia, Germany will be represented by Sabine Lisicki and Nicolas Kiefer and France has top 20 players Alize Cornet and Gilles Simon in its team for the eight-nation event.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...man-Cup-US.php

[AmfitNom]

Chinese Taipei and Japan are frontrunners for the 8th spot in the Asian Hopman Cup tournament, so my sources tell me.

Would be cool if Nishikori and Sugiyama played. Take your son to work day on the courts.

That would be just AWESOME! Kei and Sugiyama!

[letittbe]

I wonder if Igor would be playing with Kirilenko, then.