The 2006 tennis circus has begun with Adelaide and later the tournaments in Doha and Chennai will kick off to complete the beginning of the new season.
It's always a strange time of year and as most players haven't found any form and while they are in training, it's just not the same as playing matches and in many instances one can tell who has done the most work in the off-season. While in theory it would be great for players to try and peak for all 4 Slams, but the reality is a lot different, but the Aus Open is a very relaxed and fun event and always good to see.
Adelaide as a tournament while not offering the appearance money of the other events, has done quite well with the field this year. Lleyton "The Potato" Hewitt is the favourite, though he hasn't played in some time, doesn't seem to worry him much.
Doha, the big money tournament and Federer is getting some good cash to play there and the hot conditions will help him to win in Melbourne again and Chennai is like a challenger field and any hardcourt tournament that has Tomas Behrend as a seed, is a pretty good indication of this. It was good of Ljubo to step in and replace Nadal when he withdrew from the tournament, should be some good practice for him under some match conditions and he needs to improve his performances in the Slams.
All in all, it's just the prelude to the main event and can't really take the results that seriously, though since exhibitions really count and Gaston Gaudio lost in straight sets, a huge tragedy has come over the start of 2006.
3 comments:
Don't you just love those exhibitions?
Yes, Hopman Cup, the mixed WORLD Championships, sanctioned by the ITF, a very prestigious event. You can't really call it an exo. Afterwards the tennis year will go downhill fast.
You think Gaudio's played the pisser at Hopman Cup - check out Anna-Lena Groenefeld's results. Horrid stuff for her to overcome in "real" play, for sure.
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