- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The new year is just around the corner and that means the Australian summer of tennis is not too far away.
Some of the world’s biggest names – including women’s heavyweights Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, as well as the legendary Roger Federer – are arriving Down Under to start their preparations for the first Grand Slam of 2016, the Australian Open.
This preview will be divided into three parts: here, I will cover the Brisbane International, the Hopman Cup and the Shenzhen Open.
Part 2 will cover the Aircel Chennai Open, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the Auckland Open, and Part 3 will cover the Sydney International, the Hobart International and, of course, the Australian Open.
Let’s take a look at some of the events that tennis fans will be treated to as the countdown begins to the start of the Australian Open on January 18.
Brisbane International
January 3-10
Defending champions: Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova
Drawcards: Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Bernard Tomic, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Maria Sharapova, Belinda Bencic and Victoria Azarenka.
Defending champions Federer and Sharapova headline a strong field of participants at the Brisbane International, for which the 2016 event will be its eighth edition since it formed from a merger of the women’s Gold Coast and men’s Adelaide events.
Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam champion who has not saluted (but has come close to three times) since winning his seventh Wimbledon title in 2012, is coming off another consistent season, which saw him win six titles, including Dubai, Istanbul, Halle, Cincinnati and Basel, the latter by defeating long-time career nemesis Rafael Nadal in the final.
The 34-year-old enters this season with one major goal – to finally capture the Olympic singles gold medal in Rio, having finished runner-up to Andy Murray in 2012. He will, however, be 35 by the time the Games get underway.
Sharapova arrives Down Under following an injury-ravaged 2015 season which saw her miss the US Open for the second time in three years, and win just two titles: here in Brisbane, and in Rome in the lead-up to the French Open.
The Russian starts 2016 ranked fourth in the world, behind Serena Williams and two of her biggest rivals for the Brisbane title: second-ranked Simona Halep and the ever-improving Garbine Muguruza.
Halep arrives in Brisbane on the back of a solid 2015, which saw her reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, the semis at the US Open, and win the biggest title of her career, at Indian Wells in March.
Muguruza is fresh off a breakthrough season which saw her reach the final at Wimbledon and win the biggest title of her own career, in Beijing, and rising from a 2014 year-end of 21 to her present position, third.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka will be hoping the Brisbane International serves as a springboard to a career revival, her past two years having been ruined by injury. The world number 22 has not won a tournament since August 2013, but did reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015.
Hopman Cup
January 3-9
Defending champions: Poland
Drawcards: Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios, Daria Gavrilova, Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Gael Monfils and Sabine Lisicki.
Australia’s chances of winning the Hopman Cup for the first time since 1999 will be boosted by two teams (Australia Gold and Australia Green) representing the hosts for the first time in the tournament’s history.
Gold will comprise Jarmila Gajdosova and Lleyton Hewitt, who is guaranteed at least three singles matches as his career descends into its twilight, while Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova are Green.
Others to watch out for in Perth include men’s world number two Andy Murray, who is once again partnered with Heather Watson, and women’s world number one Serena Williams, who is partnered with Jack Sock.
The Czech Republic will be represented by rising stars Karolina Pliskova and Jiri Vesely, Caroline Garcia and Gael Monfils will represent the French, French Open quarter-finalist Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov will fly the flag for Ukraine, and Sabine Lisicki and Alexander Zverev will be out to make Germany proud.
As always, the eight nations will be divided into two groups: Group A consists of Australia Green, Germany, Great Britain and France, while Group B consists of Australia Gold, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and the United States.
It means Kyrgios will face Murray, Zverev and Monfils in his singles matches, while Gavrilova, who recently gained Australian citizenship, is up against Watson, Lisicki and Garcia.
The other group will see Hewitt face Vesely, Dolgopolov and Sock, while Gajdosova is up against Pliskova, Svitolina and Williams.
Williams will be hoping to add a third Hopman Cup to her bulging trophy cabinet, in what is her first appearance since a shock semi-final loss to Roberta Vinci at the US Open last September thwarted her bid to complete a Calendar Grand Slam.
But with 2016 being an Olympic year, there will be incentive for her to produce what could be the most dominant year by any tennis player since Steffi Graf swept the Grand Slams and won the Olympic gold medal in 1988.
The American is set to start as red-hot favourite at each of the four Majors, and will also be heavily favoured to defend the gold medal which she won by crushing Sharapova at London in 2012.
No player, male or female, has ever successfully defended a gold medal in singles at the Olympics, so that is a record the 34-year-old could set in Rio this coming August.
Shenzhen Open
January 2-9
Defending champion: Simona Halep
Drawcards: Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard.
WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, and former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard headline an otherwise weak line-up at the Shenzhen Open in China.
Radwanska and Kvitova, the two combatants of the WTA Finals championship match in Singapore last October, are the only two players in the top 30 participating at the event, and both are coming off similar seasons.
Radwanska enters the new season on the back of a strong second half of 2015, in which she finished world number five – after at one stage languishing outside the top ten – and won three titles after the US Open.
However, she suffered a disappointing year at the Majors, only reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon, but not before she lost in the first round of the French Open; her worst result at Grand Slam level since the 2009 Australian Open.
Kvitova is also coming off a three-title season and a poor year at the Majors, but she did end Williams’ undefeated start to 2015 en route to the Madrid title in May, and reached the quarter-finals of the US Open for the first time, losing to the eventual champion, the now-retired Flavia Pennetta.
Bouchard will be hoping that this tournament serves as a launchpad to a career revival. The Canadian had a breakthrough 2014 season, which saw her reach the Wimbledon final, the semis at the Australian and French Opens, and win her first career title in Nuremburg. However her 2015 was disastrous, seeing her lose in the first rounds of both the French Open and Wimbledon, withdraw from the US Open mid-tournament with concussion, and consequently see her ranking drop to 49th.
An early exit at Melbourne Park would not only see Bouchard drop outside the top 50, but also complete the biggest fall from grace since Ana Ivanovic in 2009-10, before the Serbian climbed back into the top 20 in early 2012.
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.