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Players will make their last preparations for the Australian Open this week. Most are in Melbourne practicing, and the others are at the last warm-up tournaments, both lower tier events.
The season got off to a bright start last week. Phobe, who’s place in the top 10 has always been questioned, proved she is worthy of it by winning the New Zealand International, in brutal fashion. She went through 3 seeds in straight sets, finishing with a 6-4 6-4 victory over French Open champion J-man in the final. There were some upsets early in the tournament. Top seed Jennacourt, who had been in 3 straight finals in Auckland, lost in the QF to J-man in 3 sets. 3rd seed dav6789, who usually starts the season quickly, only managed 4 games against Phobe in his first match. Defending champion x.doublea lost in straight sets to Avolt in the first round. At the Christmas Island Challenge, top seed stevos14 successfully defended a title for the first time. Spurred on by the crowd, he wrapped up the title with a 6-4 7-5 win against 2nd seed Adelaide.
The world’s top 3 players have given their thoughts ahead of the Australian Open:
Vanessa Child
Q. Congratulations on regaining the world number 1 ranking! What are your expectations for this season now that you are back at the top of the game?
Vanessa Child:
Thank you! The end of the season was really great for me and ending the year with such a great match was really fortunate. My goal this is year to of course win every event I enter and get the Grand Slam ! Of course I always want to win, but that is a very difficult task. Really I think I'm capable of winning all four majors in one year. I mean have the ablility to win on all surfaces so its not out of the question! But right now that is all in the future and my main focus is winning my first Australian Open and completing a career slam. Everything else is as I said in the distant future.
Q. You have a chance to make tennis history and achieve a career Grand Slam if you win the Australian Open? How will you approach this? Does it put anymore pressure on you?
Vanessa Child:
I think it does put pressure on me, but I'm not going to think about that. I have had some bad losses in Australia, and that will only motivate me to play better.
Q. Finally, could you give us your thoughts on the new race ranking system?
Vanessa Child:
Well I don't know yet because it has just started, but it seems like a good idea. Obviously the real rankings will still be much more important. It's still a new good idea though.
Jennacourt
Q. Welcome back! How did you spend your off-season? Did you practice much?
Jennacourt:
Yeah it's good to be back! I worked a lot on my net game and practiced moving in more often. I felt I always had solid volleys, but I'm just not that comfortable up there. It may takes some time, but eventually I think it will help my game.
Q. Right now, all the talk is about Vanessa Child and if she can complete the set of Slams at the Australian Open? Do you feel this will help you if you are under the radar a bit?
Jennacourt:
Yeah I think she will be getting most of the attention, as usual, so there won't be as much pressure on me.
Q. You played your best ever tennis in the summer of last year, but haven't quite been able to repeat that. How will you get that back again?
Jennacourt:
I think if I just keep my errors down and continue to improve my game I can play just as well. I really want to win Wimbledon again, and even more, the U.S. Open, my country's major. Even if this means suffering a little earlier in the year.
PSALT
Q. Well done for such a huge end to last year! What do you hope to achieve this year?
PSALT: My goal first and foremost is a Slam title. Other things, namely a No.1 ranking, will likely come along with that title.
Q. You have been in the Australian Open final for the last two years but haven't been able to capture the title. What will you do this time to try and go that extra step?
PSALT: They say third time is a charm, and I hope they are right. I have everything I need to win, it just hasn't happened yet. I feel quite confident I will make a deep run there again, the crowd will be behind me like they always are. Who can stop me? Stevos? Hehehehehe..... please give me a moment to compose myself.....
Q. Now at number 3 in the world, you are the highest ranked player of your generation. How do you feel about that and who do you think will be able to challenge you?
PSALT: Being the class of my generation is great. I was never even close, in fact before my first Aussie final I was closer to being the fourth or fifth ranked player my age.
Who can challenge me? Truly anybody. My generation truly is the most talented to come up since the generation of Sampras/Agassi/ect./ect. Dave and NEA are the closest and they could challenge. As could Leftys and Doublea. J-man however is the most talented player on tour, and if he could ever get his act together he could be scary good.
Q. How much has life changed for you now you have reached superstar status over the world, especially in the USA?
PSALT: Well, I get more money for sure. I get paid money just to show up to events. So, what I do is I get the check in advance, then cancel, something some nobody couldn't do. I'm joking for the most part (Jbors is the bad one about that), but you get my point. The huge amounts of girls screaming, 'Marry me PSALT!!!!', and such isn't bad either.
While Child and Jennacourt are practicing for the Australian Open, PSALT is the top seed in this week’s Sydney Tennis, a Tier 3 event. He is joined in Sydney by French Open champion J-man who has just reached a final. leftys_rock, Stroganoff, Yodavitch, Sheila and former finalist Ying-Chang also highlight the draw. The other event is the Smashnova Super-National in Israel. dav6789, the top seed, will go for 3 straight titles, but in his way is 2nd seed stevos14, who has just won a tournament. Threatening the top two seeds are Sarahginia, a two-time finalist, Ronatta and Season 2 finalist Beta.
