Abu Dhabi Order of Play for Friday

Top seed Roger Federer and second seed Rafael Nadal will see their first action of the week on Friday at the Abu Dhabi exhibition.

Federer will battle Robin Soderling in a French Open rematch, whlie Nadal will take on good friend and Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer.

Soderling defeated Stanislas Wawrinka on Thursday in two tiebreak sets, while Ferrer overcame a sluggish start and an ill Nikolay Davydenko to advance in three sets.

The order of play for Friday will see Federer vs. Soderling at 3pm, followed by Nadal vs. Ferrer.

Federer Interview with Le Telegramme

In a recent interview given to the Le Telegramme, Roger Federer relives his memories of winning his first Challenger event 10 years ago in Brest, France.

According to Federer, the tournament victory became the catalyst to his successful career. Defeating Max Mirnyi in the final (picture to the right), Federer took his ranking into the top 100 to end the 1999 season. Ironically, Federer captured only one Challenger event throughout his rise to the top.

Federer claims to still have the trophy back at his parents’ house in Switzerland.

The Swiss star is set to battle Robin Soderling in the Abu Dhabi exhibition on Friday.

Below is the link to the interview in French:

interview to Telegram

Hewitt Primed for Australian Circuit

Australian Davis Cup hero Lleyton Hewitt remains hungry to regain the glory days which saw him ranked No. 1 in the world.

Hewitt, who is currently ranked No. 22 in the world, will begin his Australian summer at the Hopman Cup in Perth.

“I’d love to get back into the top five as soon as possible,” Hewitt said.

“Obviously the four majors for us is the priority. The Australian Open and Wimbledon are probably not only mine but also Nathan’s favourite two tournaments, so it’d be great to do well at those two tournaments and have a shot at those.”

Hewitt appears confident with new coach Nathan Healey (a former touring pro), in his corner.

“Nathan and I spent a lot of time together growing up and we know each other’s games extremely well and he obviously knows the way I play as well as anyone around the world,” he said.

“Nathan has a young family, wife Marnie and a young daughter Anna, who gets on extremely well with my two kids Mia and Cruz, so we’ve got a lot of things in common and we really like to spend a lot of quality time together on and off the tennis court.”

David Drsysdale, Hewitt’s manager spoke about his clients renewed passion for the sport—suggesting that there are no plans of retirement in the foreseeable future.

“He’s got another two or three years on tour and I would like to think that by the middle of the year he’d be knocking on the door of the top 10,” said Drysdale.

“He’s got renewed enthusiasm, which is fantastic. He’s really fit and his body’s feeling good and that will probably dictate how long he keeps playing for.

“But he’s most definitely not thinking of retirement.”

The Hopman Cup is set to begin Saturday.

Quotes courtesy of tennis.com.au.

Abu Dhabi Results for Thursday

Robin Soderling and David Ferrer posted first round wins today at the second annual Capitala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Soderling disposed of Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 7-6, while Ferrer recovered from a set down to defeat Davydenko 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Soderling squandered significant leads in both sets before putting away his No. 21 ranked Swiss opponent.

“I was just thinking this is the last match of last season and the first match of next season,” Soderling commented. “It’s still 2009. I feel good for the moment. It was a great match today.”

With the win, Soderling advanced to the semifinals where he will face top seed Roger Federer.

Federer received a first round bye in the event and will be aiming to defeat Soderling for the 13th straight time in the career head-to-head meetings.

Spaniard Ferrer was made to work overtime in his victory over recent World Tour winner Davydenko.

Fighting back from a dismal first set, Ferrer stormed back with two breaks of serve in the second set, and finally a single break of serve in the final set.

Ferrer, who became a late alternate in the event for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, will next meet second seed Rafael Nadal on Friday.

Quotes courtesy of tennistalk.com

Roddick Aims For a Successful 2010 Season

Former world No. 1 and US Open champion Andy Roddick will begin his 2010 season in Brisbane, Australia.

The 27-year-old American, who has been sidelined since the Shanghai Masters 1000 in China, claims that his knee injury is on the rebound.

“It’s coming around all right,” said Roddick. “It was disappointing to finish the year like I did, especially considering I felt like I was having a really good year until the injury came about.”

“That was disappointing but on the flipside, I’m probably a little bit more mentally rested than a lot of these guys, maybe a little bit more eager to get out here,” Roddick said of sitting out with the injury. “I’ve been playing a lot. I’m definitely not coming in under-practiced.

The current world No. 7 will be the top seed in Brisbane this week, joined by the likes of defending champ Radek Stepanek, Gael Monfils and Tomas Berdych.

Roddick’s quest for continued Grand Slam success remains his focus for the ‘10 season.

The Texas native spoke to reporters on Thursday about his epic Wimbledon loss to Roger Federer.

“It’s like anything that’s hard in anyone’s life,” Roddick said. “You just keep going and do the things you enjoy and slowly, maybe, I’ll only think about it four times today.”

Roddick also spoke about his outlook to the year’s first Major in Australia.

“Obviously I feel like maybe I could have played a final there before,” he said. “It hasn’t quite happened but there’s not a lot of people walking around that can say … that they’ve played in four semifinals.”

Roddick has his full entourage in Brisbane this week, including wife Brooklyn Decker, coach Larry Stefanki, and fitness trainer Doug Spreen.

The Brisbane International is set to kick off on Saturday.

Quotes courtesy of the Associated Press.

Thursday’s Order of Play for Abu Dhabi Tennis Exhibition

A strong cast of ATP World Tour superstars are set to kick off the second Capitala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Thursday’s order of play for the six man field is as follows:

Nikolay Davydenko vs. David Ferrer at 3pm, to followed by Robin Soderling vs. Stanislas Wawrinka in the day’s second match.

The top two seeds, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal received first round byes.

Federer will face the winner of Soderling/Wawrinka in the semfinals, while Nadal will battle Davydenko/Ferrer in the final four.

The three day exhibition will serve as a key tune up for the upcoming Australian Open.

Federer Pulls Out Of Davis Cup

According to tagesanzeiger.ch, Roger Federer has said that he will not be competing in the much anticipated Davis Cup tie against reigning champions Spain.

Here is the Google translation:

No duel with Nadal: Roger Federer waived the Davis Cup match against defending champions Spain.

Roger Federer said on Wednesday that he would not take part in the tie against champion Spain (March 5 to 7).

The cancellation comes at a complete surprise for the duel with the “almost unbeatable on home clay courts Armada.” Just before the Davis Cup comes Federer’s ‘home tournament “in Dubai, right after that are important events in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne, all of these tournaments are held on hard courts.

Unfavorable draw

The ITF World Champion and European Sportsman of the Year had an extremely unfavorable draw. Assuming a victory against Spain, other opponents before the final could have been France and Argentina.

There are two simple facts people need to remember here: First, even with Federer in the lineup it would be difficult for the Swiss team to defeat Spain on clay, and the second is that as Federer needs to take more care of his body.

It will be interesting to see in the coming years if Federer addresses his lack of Davis Cup commitment. He has accomplished almost everything a tennis player could ever want except of course a Davis Cup title and more importantly to him an Olympic gold medal.

source here

Video: Toni Nadal Speaks To Canal4

Below is a video of Toni Nadal (Rafa’s coach) sitting down with a panel at Canal4 to discuss Rafa and his potential 2010 season. The interview is in spanish with no subtitles.

courtesy of NadalNews.com

Video: Rafa @ Palma de Mallorca Airport

Here is a short video of Nadal preparing to board a flight to Abu Dhabi, and the 2010 season. The video also features Carlos Moya which makes Nima very happy I am sure.

Tomic Receives Brisbane Wildcard

Current world No. 286 Bernard Tomic has received a wildcard into the upcoming Brisbane event.

The 17-year-old Gold Coast resident will join top seed Andy Roddick, Radek Stepanek, Gael Monfils and Tomas Berdych in the 32 man field.

Tomic also received a wildcard into the Australian Open, amidst critics suggesting that he should have earned his way through the qualifying draw (Tomic was eliminated by Nick Lindahl in the Australian Open playoff in five sets).

The Australian Open Series is set to kick off on Sunday.

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