The full entry list for the 2014 Hopman Cup has been revealed but unfortunately there will be a very notable absentee from the entry list and as a result, next year’s tournament is set to suffer.
After narrowly missing out on the nation’s first Hopman Cup this year, the Serbian pairing of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic have passed on the chance for redemption next year, instead preferring to open their respective seasons elsewhere.
Their decision to skip the mixed teams tournament, where they have thrilled fans not just with their play but also their antics and joking around, will leave many tennis fans, myself included, upset and disappointed.
But there are reasons for this.
Djokovic, who will shoot for a record-breaking fifth Australian Open title next year, will have just come off a gruelling Davis Cup campaign for Serbia while Ivanovic has decided to open her season in Auckland as she desperately bids to re-include her name among the world’s elite, having struggled to maintain the standards which saw her win the French Open and top the world rankings in 2008.
Their presence last year lit up the tournament, where they acted as ball kids and danced to the worldwide viral hit Gangnam Style during the dead mixed rubber against Germany on the tournament’s penultimate day.
Their “Djoking” around (as I like to call it) may have contributed to their losing to Spain in the final after seemingly having one hand on the trophy.
Djokovic had defeated Fernando Verdasco in his first rubber before Ivanovic slipped up against Anabel Medina Garrigues, those two preceding the lost deciding rubber which saw the Spaniards take home the trophy for the first time since 2010.
Fans of either player will now have to wait until at least 2015 for redemption, when the pair will both be 27. They are separated by age by under six months, with Djokovic being the elder, but there is still enough time for the pair to finally claim some silverware together, having been close friends since the age of four.
They also qualified for the final in 2011, but an abdominal injury to Ivanovic forced the Serbs to withdraw from the final, the untimely and unfortunate withdrawal ultimately destroying Ivanovic’s Australian Open campaign and momentum.
It was not so for Djokovic, who went on to win only his second Grand Slam title that year.
Anyway, onto the serious side of things now and the draw has just been made public, and Australia could be given a decent chance of claiming the tournament for the first time since 1999.
They will be represented by Bernard Tomic (for the second year in a row) and Samantha Stosur (for the first time since 2010).
They have been drawn in the same half as top seeds Poland, who will be represented by current world number four Agnieszka Radwanska and Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz, Italy (Flavia Pennetta and Andreas Seppi) and Canada (Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic).
Tomic, whose father John is unlikely to be permitted into Perth Arena as he serves a year-long ban from attending top-level tennis tournaments, is 3-0 against Seppi, two of which came within a week of each other last year, while he has never faced Raonic or Janowicz, both of whom are rapidly moving up the rankings.
The two-time junior Grand Slam champion has recently made a habit of performing well at home in recent years, as proven when he upset world number one Novak Djokovic at this year’s edition, and went on to claim his maiden ATP World Tour title in Sydney.
In 2012, he reached the semi-finals in Brisbane, won the unofficial Kooyong Classic and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time, falling to Roger Federer.
Stosur, on the other hand, will be desperate to arrest years of underperforming on home soil, having never done well in Australia since reaching the final in Sydney in 2005.
Her opponents in Perth, in addition to Radwanska, will be Flavia Pennetta and last year’s junior Wimbledon champion, Eugenie Bouchard.
Stosur has a good record against Radwanska, winning three of their four matches, including just as recently as the quarter-finals in Carlsbad, en route to winning her first title since the 2011 US Open.
However, she has a 0-4 record against Pennetta, and also lost her only match against Bouchard through an injury-enforced retirement at Charleston in April.
Thus, it will be a huge challenge for the Aussies, who, led in tandem by Tomic and Ashleigh Barty this year, narrowly failed to make the final, a match tie-break in the doubles rubber against Serbia being the bug.
But if last year’s narrow failure to reach the final, and Stosur’s good record against Radwanska is anything to go by, then they should be considered a strong chance of doing very well in this tournament.
Poland are making their debut at the tournament and it means Radwanska will concede the defence of the title she won in Auckland, and possibly Sydney as well.
Italy will be bidding to reach the final for the first time, with Seppi returning from last year and Pennetta making her second appearance after 2009.
Canada will be making only their second ever appearance in Perth, and with both Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard on the rise, their partnership also promises to be a beauty.
The bottom half of the draw will be interesting.
It will feature the past three champions, the United States, the Czech Republic and Spain, as well as France, who will be anchored by Alize Cornet and former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The USA will be led by marathon man John Isner and recent top-ten debutant Sloane Stephens; the Czechs will be led by Petra Kvitova and Radek Stepanek while Anabel Medina Garrigues will partner Tommy Robredo as the Spaniards look to defend the title they wrested away from Serbia this year.
Stephens has made her mark on the WTA Tour this year, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open (defeating Serena Williams en route) and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, in addition to toppling Maria Sharapova at Cincinnati.
Her partnership with John Isner, who famously defeated Nicolas Mahut in that never-ending match at Wimbledon in 2010, promises to be a good one. Isner, for his part, will be desperate to claim some team glory after a knee injury robbed him and Venus Williams the chance to face off against Serbia in the final this year.
Petra Kvitova’s last appearance at the tournament was a victorious one, as she and Tomas Berdych won in 2012, in a year which the Czechs also won the Fed and Davis Cups, thus becoming the first team to win all three Cups in the same year.
The 2011 Wimbledon champion will this time be partnered by doubles specialist Radek Stepanek, who featured in the Czechs’ aforementioned Davis Cup victory last year and also reached the quarter-finals at the All England Club in 2006.
Spain will return to try to win the tournament for the fifth time, but while Anabel Medina Garrigues will return, she will this time be partnered by comeback man Tommy Robredo, who at the US Open this year denied Roger Federer a quarter-final showdown against Rafael Nadal by beating him for the first time in over ten attempts.
And last but not least, France, were originally meant to be anchored by Marion Bartoli and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, until the female Wimbledon champion announced her sudden retirement in August.
Tsonga will return for a second consecutive year and he will be partnered by Alize Cornet, who will also be making her sophomore appearance at the tournament after previously partnering Gilles Simon in 2009.
This edition of the Hopman Cup still promises to be an intriguing and thrilling tournament as the world’s biggest names gear up for the first Grand Slam of 2014, the Australian Open.
But with the non-presence of the Serbian pair of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic, the tournament is set to be less exciting especially given the way they entertained the crowds last year.
This is what the crowd will be missing out on in 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sis370MZLW8 (please attach)
Nevertheless, tennis fans can still expect to be thrilled by what next year’s line-up will have to offer.
Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Former Wimbledon champion, double grand slam winner and Australian Open finalist Garbine Muguruza has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30.…
Rafael Nadal has hailed the brilliance of Alex de Minaur, calling him "a great player" after the Australian forced the Spanish legend to say…
The clay season promises to be one of high level and tight margins. With the Monte Carlo open just around the corner, it will…
In incredible scenes, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Indian Wells was halted abruptly due to a "bee invasion." Less…
Marathon man Jordan Thompson has finally clinched his first ATP Tour title, with the Australian upsetting Norwegian Casper Ruud to lift the trophy in…
Alex de Minaur has earned the perfect 25th birthday present, booking a place in the final of the Rotterdam Open with an emphatic revenge…
