There is just under a week to go before the Australian summer of tennis gets underway, with up to nine warm-up events provided for the world’s best players to get their game together before the Australian Open gets underway on January 19.
This preview will be divided into three parts: here, in Part I, I will preview the Brisbane International, the Hopman Cup and the Auckland Open.
Part II will cover the Shenzhen Open, Qatar Open and Chennai Open and Part III the Sydney International, Heineken Open and Hobart International.
First, let’s take a look at some of the events that tennis fans in Australia can look forward to in the first week of the Australian Open series.
Brisbane International
January 4-11
Defending champions: Lleyton Hewitt and Serena Williams
Drawcards: Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Martin del Potro, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Samantha Stosur.
The Brisbane International marks the kick-off to what should be another great summer of tennis in Australia, with a host of big names set to descend on the Queensland capital to contest the seventh edition of the tournament.
World number two Federer, defending champion Hewitt and US Open runner-up Nishikori will once again return to the sunshine city, with the former looking to reverse his three-set loss to Hewitt in the 2014 final and win the only Australian title that has so far eluded him in his career.
Bernard Tomic will also return to Brisbane for the first time since 2012, when he lost to Andy Murray in the semi-finals, while promising young talent Thanasi Kokkinakis and Marinko Matosevic will also feature.
US Open champion Marin Cilic has, however, withdrawn due to injury with his Australian Open chances now in extreme doubt.
Former Grand Slam champions Juan Martin del Potro and Victoria Azarenka will also seek to use the Brisbane International as a springboard to get their careers back on track after injuries ruined their 2014 seasons.
Del Potro has not played since Dubai in February, with his ranking dropping from an equal career-high fourth in the world down to outside the top 100, while persistent knee and foot injuries sent Azarenka’s ranking plummeting from a clear second in the world behind Serena Williams down to 31st.
Speaking of Williams, the world number one has decided not to chase a hat-trick in Brisbane, instead choosing to participate at the Hopman Cup (more previewed below). This leaves Azarenka as the only woman in the field to have previously triumphed in Brisbane, doing so in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2009.
The Belarussian is joined in the strong women’s field by world number two Maria Sharapova, as well as former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova, and Germany’s Angelique Kerber, among others.
As the top two seeds, Sharapova and Ivanovic, who met four times in 2014 for two wins each, get a first-round bye and will be heavily favoured to feature deep in the tournament, if not in the final, which is the earliest they can meet.
Hopman Cup
January 4-10
Defending champions: France
Drawcards: Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Eugenie Bouchard, Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios.
Defending champions France will return to the Hopman Cup as they look to become the first country since the United States in 2003-4 to successfully defend their title.
However, they will be without Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has withdrawn due to injury, with Benoit Paire to partner last year’s victorious female player, Alize Cornet.
They are joined in the field by the United States, which will be represented by world number one Serena Williams and marathon man John Isner, Canada, where Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil will be their representatives, and Poland, for whom Agnieszka Radwanska partners with Jerzy Janowicz.
Andy Murray will partner with Heather Watson for Great Britain, while Flavia Pennetta and Fabio Fognini will represent Italy.
Australia’s hopes of winning the tournament for the first time since 1999 will rest on this year’s Newcombe Medallist, Nick Kyrgios, and local favourite Casey Dellacqua. Fans will get to see Kyrgios face off against Murray, as well as former Wimbledon semi-finalist Janowicz, while Dellacqua will have her work cut out against Poland’s Radwanska and France’s Cornet.
Radwanska and Cornet will reprise their dramatic women’s tie from this year’s final in the group stage, which saw the Pole win in three sets before the French took the title by winning the deciding tie in the doubles.
Group A will see top ten players Williams and Bouchard face off, while Wimbledon semi-finalist Lucie Safarova and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta also feature in this group. Among the men, John Isner, Fabio Fognini and Vasek Pospisil will be among those to watch out for.
ASB Classic
January 5-10
Defending champion: Ana Ivanovic
Drawcards: Caroline Wozniacki, Sara Errani, Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone.
While the ASB Classic will be without its defending champion, Ivanovic, there are still some big names that will descend onto Auckland for the first of New Zealand’s only two events in 2015.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, who enjoyed a resurgent second half of 2014 after splitting from her golfing boyfriend Rory McIlroy, headlines the field, as does former French Open runner-up Sara Errani and seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.
The Dane overcame the aforementioned split from McIlroy to finish last year in the top ten after her ranking dropped to 16th midway through 2014. She won her only title of the year in Istanbul and reached her second Grand Slam final at the US Open, losing to Serena Williams in straight sets.
Venus Williams will be 35 in June but nothing will stop her from chasing the title in Auckland, which she came close to doing last year before Ivanovic defeated her in the final in three sets.
Former Grand Slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone will also feature, making for a strong line-up of women that New Zealand tennis fans will be treated to.
That’s Part I. The next part will preview the three non-Down Under warm-up tournaments, namely Shenzhen, Doha and Chennai.
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