Australian Open 2011: Roger Federer Leads the Field Into Melbourne

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at Internationaled.org

Published: January 12, 2011

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The first month of the tennis season is also one of the most challenging, with the run-in to the first Grand Slam like a sprint up the side of a mountain.

No sooner are Christmas and New Year out of the way than the rigors of the Australian summer—hot, humid and, this year, drenched by appalling tropical storms—summon tennis’s protagonists “down under.”

Already, three ATP tournaments and a handful of exhibition events have come and gone. They have given the players a chance to practise the new shots, new tactics and new ambitions they have worked on during the all-too-brief offseason. They have also provided a chance to throw down the gauntlet ahead of the big Melbourne prize.

Amongst the exhibitions, the Hopman Cup offered one of the more interesting pointers to form, featuring as it did two of the top five men in the world.

Andy Murray, newly ranked at No. 5 in the world, chose the Perth-based event for his preparations, and defeated John Isner, Nicolas Mahut and Polito Starace all in straight sets.

He did not, though, get the chance to compete against the top dog in the tournament, No. 3 Novak Djokovic. With neither Serbia nor Great Britain reaching the playoffs, there was no head-to-head confrontation between two potential challengers for the Australian title.

However Murray and Djokovic have been practising together on a regular basis out of competition. Murray pointed out that this was not unusual for the two friends ahead of a Slam event. “Hopefully, we can help each other ahead of the tournament.”

Djokovic, who also won all three of his matches in the Hopman Cup, clearly remained buoyed by the confidence he gained from an excellent end-of-year run that included an outstanding performance for Serbia in the Davis Cup final. In Perth, he claimed “The last couple of months I’ve been playing maybe my best tennis…everythi...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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