It's the beginning of a new season. Last year was dominated by Roger Federer, who won three out of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments. He lost just 5 games, winning 92.  Federer lost to only two players Rafael Nadal (4 times) and Andy Murray. He's proving to be one of the greatest to play the game.

I don't think this year is going to be that easy as the last one. Players like Nadal, Roddick, Murray are all charged up.

In the women tennis, JHH proved her worth too. Her main contenders are Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clisjters (she's getting married this year, i think), Martina Hingins.

Who is/are your favourite player(s)? Who do you see making life difficult for Roger on the court? Do you see Roger winning the French Open - Nadal's fav this year (i know it's still far away)? Australian Open starts January 15. Who will take it?

Too many questions, lets discuss tennis!

Nadal i fancy to give Federer a run for his money.

Nikolay Davydenko is someone to watch too, getting better and better. Andy Murray i think is a flash in the pan and will soon go the way of Tim Henman.

I want David Nalbandian to win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Nalbandian has not been his normal self of late, I'd love to see him back too.

Nadal is through to the semi-final at Chennai Open. I expect him to take the title as the other competitors aint tough enough for him.

Workaholic Davydenko lost to Andy Murray today at the $1 million Qatar Open, although he wasn't fit; he injured his shin in the match. Murray needs to work on his physical strength, if he can play without getting tired easily, he has a chance of ending this year in the top ten. He plays Ljubicic in the final. Who do you tip to win?

Ljubicic!

Nadal just suffered his first defeat of the season. I guess I underestimated the other guys. Malisse beat Nadal 6-4, 7-6 in the first semi-final match. The Belgian will face the winner between Koubek and former world number one, Moya Carlos in the final. I guess it's anyone's game now.

As for the Murray - Ljubicic match, the winner should emerge in about two hours' time. Can't really say who will win.

Murray should win that, but Federer rules 'em all!!

Ljubicic wins it 6-4 6-4

i guessed so. Andy Murray is the new Tim Henman

hope not for his sake.i trust the british press they will do what they are good at

toptho:

hope not for his sake.i trust the british press they will do what they are good at

aye! Overhyping of course. Cant see Murray winning a grand slam with the present crop of talent. We've heard too much about Murray for a player who has done no better than Nadal or James Blake or Davydenko. If Nadal had been british we'd have been choking over his name and image by now.

Federer is still the man for me.He just needs to overcome nadal on that clay and we are good to go.
There are so many good tennis players right now and if murray doesnt improve his fitness level he wont give himself a good chance.

Are we looking at a Federerslam this 2007? I doubt he will lose to Nadal again on clay, i fear Nadal's confidence has taken a huge hit of recent.
What do you think of Andy Roddick this yr?

Andy Roddick had his chances last year and he blew it,he might well prove me wrong.But i have a feeling federer will get one over nadal on clay this year,he was close last year.MAybe an improvement on last year if that's possible.And nadal has already lost this year,not a great start.Federer might just beat the record for being number 1 in consecutive weeks

the decline of the americans. Cant see any american nicking a grandslam this yr. Roddick and Blake are the only hopes.

Federer for best Tennis player ever!

Even if Federer does not play a match for the next two months, he'll still remain in the top position. He amassed more than enough points last season.

If Andy Roddick can do just a little better than he did in the previous season, he might just be Federer's only real competitor. How I wish Nadal can get back in form. Having no tough challenger for Federer may take the excitement away from this sport.

Can Federer go unbeaten this year?

Update on Chennai Open:

Belgian Xavier Malisse defeated Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-1 6-3 in the Chennai Open final on Sunday to win the second title of his career.

This week's tournaments (Jan 8 - 13) for the men are:

Medibank International Sydney, Australia, which features top players like Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, James Blake, ever-smiling Marcos Baghdatis, Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet, Sebastien Grosjean and Verdasco Fernando.

Heineken Open Auckland, New Zealand, which features players like Tommy Robredo, Mario Ancic, David Ferrer, Jarkko Nieminen, Dominik Hrbaty, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Agustin Calleri, swiss Stanislas Wawrinka

How far will Nadal go at Sydney? Knowing that Berdych has a good head to head (3 - 1) record against Nadal and if they both win their first two matches, they will meet.

For the women,

Medibank International Sydney, Australia features Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kim Clijsters, Nadia Petrova, Martina Hingis, Elena Dementieva, Patty Schnyder, Nicole Vaidisova among other players.

Nadal pulled out of the sydney international

u'r right toptho

Update on Medibank International Sydney, Australia:

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal withdrew from his first round match with a groin injury against Chris Guccione, who reached his first ATP final in Adelaide last week (lost to Djokovic). Guccione was leading 6-5 in the first set when the ATP World No. 2 decided to pull out after 40 minutes. Nadal now faces a race to be fit for the Australian Open, starting on January 15. Guccione faces Austrian Jurgen Melzer next.

Nikolay Davydenko fought back from a 4-1 deficit in the final set to beat American Vince Spadea 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes. Second-seeded Davydenko will next meet Paul-Henri Mathieu, who beat French compatriot Arnaud Clement 7-6(5), 6-4.

Defending champion James Blake needed just 46 minutes Tuesday to race into the second round of the Medibank International in Sydney. The third-seeded American dismissed countryman and lucky loser Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-4.

Baghdatis, Berdych, Gasquet all advance while Grosjean falls early (he was beaten by Spaniard Fernando Verdasco)

In the women's event,

Amélie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters and Nicole Vaidisova are all through to the next round.

Martina Hingis was the first seeded casualty. Two of the four seeds that did not make the quarterfinal cut, No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.4 seed Nadia Petrova, were forced to stop with injury reasons.

No.6 seed Elena Dementieva was handed what was probably the most dramatic defeat of the day, falling to China's Li Na, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. Dementieva served for the match at 5-4 in the third set and even had match point but Li kept her fighting spirit strong and eventually earned her third career Top 10 victory.

No.7 seed Patty Schnyder was also ousted, 7-6(3), 6-2, by Israeli teen Shahar Peer.

Hingis, who was the No.5 seed here, was ousted on Monday by Jelena Jankovic; Jankovic kept her win streak alive with a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over Samantha Stosur.

Mauresmo, the top seed, was given a scare in her first match of the year but was able to prevail over Tatiana Golovin, 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-1.

Clijsters, seeded No.3, and Vaidisova, seeded No.8, enjoyed relatively easy wins to reach the quarterfinals. The Belgian drubbed Australia's Nicole Pratt, 6-1, 6-2, while the Czech did nearly the same to Ukrainian qualifier Yuliana Fedak, 6-3, 6-1.

Wednesday's quarterfinals feature two first-time meetings, between Clijsters and Peer, and Li and Srebotnik. Mauresmo is 3-0 against Jankovic although their last match ended in a third set tie-break, at Beijing last September. Ivanovic ousted Vaidisova in their only prior meeting, at Miami in 2005.

Invitational Kooyong Classic, Melbourne, Australia:

Wednesday's Result Jan 10, 2007:

Andy Roddick def Tommy Haas 6/2 6/3
Roger Federer def Radek Stepanek 7/6(2) 6/7(4) 7/6(5)
Marat Safin def David Nalbandian 5/7 6/1 6/2
Andy Murray def Ivan Ljubicic 6/4 6/2

Thursday's Fixtures:

Tommy HAAS (GER) v Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO)

Roger FEDERER (SUI) v Marat SAFIN (RUS)

Radek STEPANEK (CZE) v Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI)

Update: Nalbandian has withdrawn from the invitational Kooyong Classic because of a knee injury.

Update on Medibank International Sydney, Australia:

Men's Singles - Second Round (Results)

P Mathieu (FRA) def (2)N Davydenko (RUS) 6/4 ret. (right foot)
(3)J Blake (USA) def N Healey (AUS) 6/2 6/4
(4)M Baghdatis (CYP) def (Q)J Hernych (CZE) 6/4 6/7(2) 6/3
(5)T Berdych (CZE) def (Q)I Minar (CZE) 6/7(4) 6/0 6/4
(6)R Gasquet (FRA) def B Becker (GER) 6/3 6/4
C Moya (ESP) def F Verdasco (ESP) 4/6 7/6(9) 6/3 - Saved 3 M.P.
E Korolev (RUS) def R Ginepri (USA) 0/6 6/4 6/4

C Guccione (AUS) vs J Melzer (AUT)

Women's Singles - Quarterfinals

Jelena Jankovic (SRB) def (1) Amélie Mauresmo (FRA) 7/5 6/0
(3) Kim Clijsters (BEL) def Shahar Peer (ISR) 6/2 6/1
(8 ) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) def Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 6/4 6/2
Li Na (CHN) def Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 7/5 6/1


Update on Heineken Open Auckland, New Zealand:

Wednesday's Result:

[2]M Ancic (CRO) def  [Q]L Rosol (CZE) 6/3 7/6(4)
[5]D Hrbaty (SVK) def  [Q]W Jun (KOR) 6/4 7/5
N Massu (CHI) def  [6]J Ferrero (ESP) 6/4 6/2
[7]A Calleri (ARG) def  J Del Potro (ARG) 6/1 6/3
N Almagro (ESP) def  [8]S Wawrinka (SUI) 1/6 6/4 6/1
J Chela (ARG) def  N Mahut (FRA) 7/6(2) 6/3
[Q]J Monaco (ARG) def  D King-Turner (NZL) 6/3 6/3
M Fish (USA) def  [Q]R Kendrick (USA) 6/2 6/4

ooops! Andy Murray proved me wrong. He beat ljubicic!

Hope Federer starts this year with another trophy.Andy Murray is now british because he is winning,when he starts fumbling they will remember he is scottish

Invitational Kooyong Classic, Melbourne, Australia:

Thursday's Result (Jan 11,2007):

Ivan Ljubicic def Tommy Haas 7/6(5) 6/4
Roger Federer def Marat Safin 6/3 7/6(2)
Radek Stepanek def Fernando Gonzalez 6/4 7/6(4)

Friday's Fixtures:

Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO) v Radek STEPANEK (CZE)

Tommy HAAS (GER) v Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI)

Andy RODDICK (USA) v Andy MURRAY (GBR)

How wil the scot fare against the american?

I want to see a Federer vs Roddick final for the exhibition tourney so i hope andy(USA) beats andy(Scottish)

Yea. . . a Federer - Roddick final would be the perfect final and a good test for the world number one.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Medibank International - Sydney

Men's Singles - Quarterfinals

(3)J Blake (USA) def E Korolev (RUS) 6/1 6/4
C Moya (ESP) def (4)M Baghdatis (CYP) 6/1 3/6 7/6(3)
J Melzer (AUT) def (5)T Berdych (CZE) 6/2  6/4
(6)R Gasquet (FRA) def P Mathieu (FRA) 6/4 6/7 6/0

Women's Singles - Semifinals

(3) Kim Clijsters (BEL) def Li Na (CHN) 6/1 1/6 7/5
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) def (8 ) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) 6/4 4/6 6/4

Heineken Open - New Zealand

Men's Singles - Quarterfinals

1)T Robredo (ESP) def P Kohlschreiber (GER) 6/4 5/7 6/2
(3)D Ferrer (ESP) def K Vliegen (BEL) 3/6 6/3 6/2
(7)A Calleri (ARG) def (Q)J Monaco (ARG) 4/6 6/4 6/3
M Fish (USA) def J Chela (ARG) 7/6(3) 7/6(8 )

Marcos Baghdatis

Why is nobody talking about him? Me think he is also coming STRONG.

No matter what sah, Sir Roger holds the key to this year. He will dust
all the records this year.

I hate seeing him lose against that Spaniard, Nadal

Marcos is a good player no doubt; he is a great sportsman.

Will he do better than he did last year? I don't think so. I just hope he gets fit enough to compete in the tournament. He's always exciting to watch.

Invitational Kooyong Classic, Melbourne, Australia:

Friday's Result (Jan 12, 2007)

Andy Roddick def Andy Murray 6/4 6/4
Radek Stepanek def Ivan Ljubicic 6/2 6/2
Fernando Gonzalez def Tommy Haas 6/4 7/6('8')

Play-off for 3rd and 4th Places

Andy MURRAY (GBR) v Marat SAFIN (RUS)

FINAL

Roger FEDERER (SUI) v Andy RODDICK (USA)