1
Yes, 2015 Is Here And So Is The Hopman Cup
76 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
The Hopman Cup is one of my favorite tournaments of the season. Seriously. I love this event and how it’s presented. This year’s star quality may be the best in Hopman history…
GROUP A
Team USA: Serena Williams & John Isner
Team Canada: Eugenie Bouchard & Vasek Pospisil
Team Czech Republic: Lucie Safarova & Adam Pavlasek
Team Italy: Flavia Pennetta & Fabio Fognini
GROUP B
Team Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska & Jerzy Janowicz
Team Australia: Casey Dellacqua & Matt Ebden (replaces the injured Kyrgios)
Team France: Alize Cornet & Benoit Paire
Team Great Britain: Heather Watson & Andy Murray
——————-
Hopman Cup 2015 provisional schedule (Australian time)
Sunday 4 January
10am Canada v Czech Republic
5.30pm Australia v Poland
Monday 5 January
10am Italy v USA
5.30pm Great Britain v France
Tuesday 6 January
10am Czech Republic v Italy
5.30pm Canada v USA
Wednesday 7 January
10am Great Britain v Poland
5.30pm Australia v France
Thursday 8 January
10am Canada v Italy
5.30pm Czech Republic v USA
Friday 9 January
10am France v Poland
5.30pm Australia v Great Britain
Saturday 10 January
3.30pm FINAL: winner Group A v winner Group B
*Schedule is provisional only and subject to change
No tags
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
« Previous 1 2Andrew Miller · January 10, 2015 at 6:11 pm
Kozlov dont need the Agassi ok. Pappa K should take this as a blessing in disguise, get feedback from equally strong but less in the limelight players like Davydenko, Brian Baker, even Mary Pierce or her brother. Getting the nod from big wigs like Mac is kiss of death, from which DY is only now recovering.
As they say when the big man shuts the door , open a window. Get a hit in with Djokovic or other technically sound players. Get Mayotte feedback . Watch Nalbandian practice sessions. There are other players like Marcelo Rios that showed how a strategist could dominate the game so if Agassi doesnt want to do this, take it as a sign he has his reasons and probably believes that if he says anything about a young player then it shows favoritism . At the very least recognize he has his reasons.
Liste even Jeff Salzenstein could help Kozlov with an aspect of the game or Mal Washington. It all adds up.
Andrew Miller · January 10, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Listen I’d give the kid some tape on any player he wants plus other interesting players like Kuerten, Leconte, Rios. There are a lot of games that anyone can learn from. as much as I enjoyed watching Agassi, every game is different and Kozlov should want to learn shots that will make a difference in future matches. I recommend the Agassi return and Seles return, Serena Williams’ serve or Leconte’s serve, Rios’ angles – different things that could pay off. The Agassi forehand worked as much from Agassi’s placememt and knowledge of how to move a player as it did pure technique. Technique is nice to have but my peers always said i had beautiful technique – but i also lacked strategic sense. That resulted in poor results, even against players at the same level.
I’d strive for a great strategic sense. How to beat big servers will be huge – how to step in and just handle a big server. How to turn momentum. As much as anything that will help any player.
Scoop Malinowski · January 10, 2015 at 6:43 pm
Agree with all your words Andrew. All those great players all have something to offer. They are all wizards. Tim Mayotte said he thought Kozlov’s forehand was good but it was missing a little cohesiveness. Every pair of eyes is going to see something and make a different comment. I would love to hear what Salzy, Baker, Jim Pierce, Mary Pierce had to say.Agassi and Sampras comments would be nice too.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2015 at 2:42 am
Like Kozlov. Nice game. Didn’t see this before, but NADAL IS CONNORS as a competitor – same fire. Just watched the ESPN documentary 30 for 30 on Connors and gotta hand it to Connors – and I think Nadal does what Connors did, some of it at least. Not a replica but there’s some Connors there in terms of intimidating opponents with visible fist pumps, etc.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2015 at 1:11 pm
Ferrer d. Berdych, wins Qatar.
Wawrinka d. Bedene, wins Chennai.
Federer d. Raonic, wins Brisbane.
And
Harrison d. Baghdatis, wins challenger.
JJ doing right thing with doubles.
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2015 at 1:50 pm
Harrison goes from losing consecutive first rounds to longshot teenagers in Challengers to winning a Challenger in Australia. Well done. Proves his slump late last year was just a slump and he’s fought his way out of it.
Bryan · January 11, 2015 at 5:05 pm
Great Hopman Cup this year. Who’d have guessed Serena would lose to Aga? With Isner beating Jerzy that was the difference in the Cup. Congrats to Poland. Jerzy’s banking this win might help him mentally at the AO. At least that’s what I’m hoping.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2015 at 5:32 pm
For Harry, would guess slump began to turn in Virginia, then with the Doyle hire and some good training. Expect him to build on this. Baghdatis is top 100 so Harrison win is credible. Harrison very smart to do opposite of his peers like Kudla, williams and win at his level. Neither Kudla nor Williams had great ATP results in Brisbane or Sydney (Kudla lost in qualies in sydney ). Shows he learned a lesson from previous years . Nice result.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2015 at 5:40 pm
Morewinners:
Sharapova d. ivanovic
Halep d. Bacsinszky
VWilliams d. Wozniaki
And the Darcis win. Must be inspired by Goffin success.
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2015 at 5:46 pm
Bryan, it was an awesome win, Aga and JJ celebrated like they won a major or OLY gold medal. Hopman Cup is a big deal, for those who didn’t know. It’s not a silly lil exo, it’s a serious, prestigious event. Well done by Poland, Aga was incredible in singles and dubs, JJ was a beast too, especially closing it out. His intensity was beyond Serena and Isner combined. This could set Aga and JJ up for huge years this year. Huge, confidence building, inspiring win. Poland now rules Hopman Cup as World Champions and also volleyball. Nostrovia!
Scoop Malinowski · January 11, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Andrew, shocked Caro lost that, she was in control up a set and had two BPs in the first game of second but let Venus back in. No killer instinct. She should have won that. Maybe she was playing nice for her buddy Serena. Or Venus just owns Caro mentally. Halep is a winning machine. Ferrer scores win with new coach. Maria is Maria. Looking forward to her next tilt with Serena, she might finally turn the tables on Serena. Happy for Shark Darcis.
Andrew Miller · January 11, 2015 at 7:36 pm
Back to Kozlov – his clean game has some connors in him. The trick for harrison and kozlov will be to get crowd on their side. N Nadal usually does it, so i’d think as they find their games they start getting fans into it. Kozlov especially will appreciate the espn documentary on connors. Unbelievable to see Pat Mac, kricker, Hauurhuis, Novacek just buckle under the pressure.
Scoop Malinowski · January 12, 2015 at 10:59 am
People like them both. Harrison, despite being known as a bit of hothead, had the fans with him actually in CAL challenger last year vs. Kozlov. They felt pity for him I guess, were aware of his struggles. Kozlov was a bit spooked by it but still overcame it and won in 3 sets. I think if Harrison gets back into the ATP elite he will have support from fans who will respect and appreciate his perseverance through hard times. Kozlov is a likable kid too, he competes with acceptable fire and intensity, and I’m sure fans will support him. Fan support definitely makes a difference. I think certain great players like Soderling, Ljubicic, Nalbandian, etc, did not know how to ingratiate themselves to connect with fans. Fans liked their games but there was no emotional connection, these players did not interact with fans or create a special relationship. They just played tennis, like business tennis. Kuerten, Federer, Agassi, Nadal, Djokovic are masters at interacting with fans and earning their devotion and loyalty.
Andrew Miller · January 12, 2015 at 11:33 am
Djokovic does have some Connors down. Cant even comprehend how Connors made that U.S. open semifinal in 91. Connors for one had great footwork, a clean game and a Nadal competetive attitude of win every point. Nice angles, he was fast on his feet. And then he pulled in the crowd.
Look no further than Scoops classic Connors biofile . Rea gem and a complement to the espn documentary.
http://thebiofile.com/2010/03/classic-interview-jimmy-connors-2006/
Andrew Miller · January 12, 2015 at 11:38 am
This Australian Open has a lot riding on it. some players like Raonic, who I always say wont make it to the slam trophy, are proving me wrong by beating Nishikoi and pushing Federer to the limit and by Dans account have improved movement.
Wta has Halep, Radwanska, Venu, Ivanovoc and the Woz ready to take the crown too and push aside Sharapova and all time best wta Serena williams.
Exciting times. This is shaping up to be another great yeaIn the sport.
Andrew Miller · January 12, 2015 at 11:42 am
Come on Serena isnt done. She is on the road to best player of all time and she will get it.
Andrew Miller · January 12, 2015 at 11:46 am
Didnt know this but Pat Mac and Haarhuis both beat Connors after us open loss. Krickstein never got another chance. They can sleep at night!
Scoop Malinowski · January 12, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Thanks for sharing that old favorite, never forget doing that interview with Jimmy at ESPNZone in Times Square NYC, and there was such a small media turnout that day, just me and like two others. So we had a lot of time and he gave very thoughtful answers. Sometimes you get lucky 🙂 Was a very lucky day.
Scoop Malinowski · January 12, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Raonic looks very close to maybe winning a major or going deep into second week. Watch out for the Milos Missile.
Andrew Miller · January 12, 2015 at 3:01 pm
Word is (from Tennis World mag) that Harrison played a fine match to beat Baghdatis – and a Bag playing well too.
Aussie qualies begin in a few days. The only U.S. wildcard into the main draw is Kudla, who won the wildcard outright (not a case of favoritism – it’s entry based on results in past X tournaments in December – Kudla’s performance was most consistent/best among all U.S. players in contention for the card).
Looks like (another) tough road into the main draw, I think the U.S. players will have a tougher time than usual. I think Harrison wioll play tough and make it.
Players in the draw (so far):
Ginepri, Smyczek, Klahn, Harrison
Kavcic, Millman, JP Smith, Duckworth, Paire, Mahut (Mahut!)
Challenge will probably be getting through the matches efficiently to save some energy for Rd 1. Hardest thing in tennis I think – to be fresh for Rd 1 as a qualifier. They benefit from the match play but like McGee – collapsed in Rd. 1 after he qualified for the US Open.
Cant tell if JJenkins is in the qualies draw. I’d think he’d be there as he is now top 200 in the world.
In other news, some results.
Casablanca, Clay Challenger. Why is this even happening.
Auckland ATP
Carreno vs. Coric. I’m saying Carreno wins this.
DY vs. Soeda. DY wins?
Vesely vs. Bellucci. This is the best kind of match, two lefty baseliners with talent a plenty. I’m thinking Bellucci wins this. This is the match worth watching that you never knew you wanted to watch.
SteveJo d. Sousa. Wow, hand it to Steve Johnson – he just keeps winning matches he has to win. No other U.S. player not named Isner wins his first rd matches as consistently as SteveJo. Say hello to a player who could rise as high as top 20 this year.
Struff d. Thiem. Thiem is in a slump.
Sydney ATP
Del potro vs. Stathosvky. I’ll go with the big Stathovsky.
Hobart, WTA
Hantuchova toughing out 1st round wins.
Cibulkova d. Mladenovic
Dellacqua d. Davis I think.
Australia must be great tennis country. I’d think it’s probably the best place in the world to play the sport. As far as I can tell the crowds are pretty full and the press coverage is enthusiastic.
Scoop Malinowski · January 12, 2015 at 7:33 pm
Ginepri, the endless warrior. Guy won’t throw in the towel, gotta love his determination He’s the last one of his era. Agree Andrew, Aussie tennis is really great. Love the energy of the crowds it comes through the TV, the fans are awesome and so into it. Love how they present tennis there. Many pros have told me it’s their favorite major. And Australian Tennis Magazine is fantastic. Love the Hopman Cup too, one of the best events of the season. Love it. I’m serious. Aussie Tennis rules. Hey it was the inspiration for Pete Sampras, his heroes were the old Aussies and he conducted himself after their example.
Andrew Miller · January 13, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Aus Open qualies draws are up. JJenkins has a challenging road to the main draw – first, Ram and then he will probably have to go through the top seed Dzumhur to get the entry. Harrison gets Odesnik.
Some U.S. players have a little easier draw (like Buchanan), but making them pair off against each other is “tough luck”. I think the UK players and Ireland’s McGee have a shot.
In Auckland ATP,
SteveJo gets Carreno – I think Carreno may win, he just knocked off Coric easily.
DY gets Schwartzmann – winnable match to get the quarters.
In Sydney ATP,
Chardy downs Querrey – Querrey has lost what, 3 ATP singles matches in a row in the 1st round.
DelPotro is on a 1 match winning streak. Gets Fognini next.
JJ knocked off Kyrgios. Hopman cup really helped Jano.
Mueller knocked off Groth.
In WTA – Stosur has been struggling.
Scoop Malinowski · January 13, 2015 at 7:33 pm
Watch out for Janowicz. Seriously, that Hopman Cup win was huge for him. He was an animal out there, he closed it out serving at love, smashing winners on first and second balls. He showed Safin like brutality. Another huge win over Kyrgios. JJ is gonna do damage this year, mark my words. Tough loss for Groth, another 3rd set deathbreaker, this time to Muller. Respect to Muller’s dedication, he’s still out there getting it done. Saw him on public part courts practicing at Key Biscayne after being eliminated from Sony Open two years ago. Seemed like he could be finished. Now look at him. Groth has to stay strong and work his way out of this funk, he is playing high level tennis. He needs a big win in Melbourne to have something to show for it. Some tough draws for Querrey, these losses could put him back in that funk he was in the last two years. Totally erasing his Challenger success late last year. Sam needs a couple of wins pronto. Harry will beat Odesnik.
Andrew Miller · January 14, 2015 at 12:07 am
Aussie Qualies.
Interesting results – Rhyne Williams, Zverev, Sandgren, Zeballos and Ginepri already out.
Moving to rd 2 (selective, not inclusive results): Lokoli, Donaldson, Broady, Russell, Berrer, Copil, Petchner, McGee, Edmund, Jasika, Propoggia, Krajicek, Smyczek, Vanni
U.S. players moving forward so far are either the hardest working vets or the unexpected guys so far.
For the Aussie Open live feed, as well as some outstanding announcing (the Aussies really set the bar!) The Aussies are to be thanked.
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/video/live.html
and the draws
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/qs/r1s4.html
Scoop Malinowski · January 14, 2015 at 9:10 am
Zverev’s struggles continue. Russell amd Smyczek just keeps plugging along. Jasika kid is making waves. Good win for Donaldson.
Andrew Miller · January 14, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Aus Open Qualies, Rd 1 results. Wow.
Dzumhur (top seed) d. Mecir
Puetz d. De Paula (Brazil)
Cecchinato d. Martin
JJenkins d. Ram
Melzer d. Jarry (Chile)
Munoz de la Nava d. Veic
Michon d. Reid
Darcis d. Cervantes
Chung d. Herbert – last years surprise rd of 16, gone.
Langer d. Ramanathan
Mertl d. Clezar
Ymer d. Paire. Nice win from Dan’s kid Ymer.
Smyczek d. Coppejans
Polmans d. Samper-Montana
Authom d. Peperzeel
Vanni d. Krstin. Nice to see Vanni following up.
Beck d. Setkik
Harris d. Galung
Albot d. Desein
Bachinger d. Ebden
Hernych d. Mahut
Pavlasek d. Ghem (another Brazilian!)
Melzer G. (bro is in top q. of draw) d. Mertens
Kuznetsov d. Dancevic. Nice win for Alex.
Bedene d. Andreozzi
Brkic d. Karatsev
Przysiezny d. Zopp (9-7 in third!)
Klahn d. Lopez-Perez
Wang d. Viola
Kravchuk d. Fabbiano
Odesnik d. Harrison <- Hope Harry stays with it. tough loss
Millot d. Sorensen
Broady d. Dustov. The UK's future keeps getting brighter.
Donaldson d. Banes. Next match is Broady-Donaldson.
Russell d. Molchanov
de Bakker d. Chen
Berrer d. Taro Daniel
Bemelmans d. Westerhof
Couacuad d. Yang. Wow – there are 3 Taiwanese players.
Moriya d. Ginepri – Moriya won final 2 sets.
Copil d. Zeballos.
Petzschner d. Trungelliti
Jasika d. Bourque
JP Smith d. Zverev A. Zverev was frustrated big time.
McGee d Goumbos. McGee going for 2nd straight slam draw.
Propoggia d. Klein
Edmund d. Lamasine – UK's Edmund and Broady doing well now.
Krajicek d. Devvarman. Nice win for Krajicek.
Kudryavtsev d. Rhyne Williams. No main draw.
Mott d. de Greef
Kovalik d. Mina
Sugita d. Sandgren. Sugita won final 2 sets. 2nd year in a row, Sandgren must be upset.
Nedovyesov d. Bourchier
Kubot d. Guez
Fucsovics d. Podlipnik-Castillo (Another Chilean!)
Marchenko d. Mitchell
Bhambri d. Donskoy, 8-6 in third. Huge effort from YukiB.
Nishioka d. Lama (Yet another Chilean)
Buchanan d. Marcora. Let's hear it for Buchanan
Delic A. d. Basilashvili
Menendez-Maceiras d. Travaglia
Arnaboldi d. Eysseric, UK
Lokoli d. Bozoljac
Torebko d. Elias.
——
Observation: not much to say, the U.S. players I thought would make it are already out of the qualies and the tournament.
On the women's qualies – I see "Tomic" – Tomic's sister, is in the draw, as well as one of the 3 Bondarenkos. Beyond a few other players I can't recognize most of the names. Same goes for the men's qualies – outside the Aussies and the usual suspects most of the names are new to me, a lot of 200+ ranked players.
I think I can predict the responses on Harrison so I won't even go there. Tough sport, tough loss.
——————-
Will spare everyone the Casablanca clay Challenger results.
Auckland, ATP, Rd of 16
Ramos d. Lu
Mannarino d. Bautista (? shortened 2nd set)
KAnderson d. Struff (who took out Thiem?)
Falla d De Schepper
SteveJohnson d. Carreno in 3. Nice win again for SteveJo.
DY d. Schwartzmann in a comeback win.
Pouille d. Venus.
Vesely d. Gulbis
UP NEXT: Vesely vs. DY. Another big battle of lefties after Vesely dropped Bellucci. Vesely is ready, hope DY too
—
Sydney ATP, Rd of 16
Bolelli d. Goffin. Goffin runs out of steam.
DelPotro d. Fognini. Del Potro remains THE MAN!
Kukushkin d. Cuevas
Tomic d Kohlschreiber. Will Tomic conserve E for the open?
Benneteau d. Pospisil
Troicki d. Andujar
Mueller d. Querrey nemesis Chardy
Mayer d. JJ. Janowicz comes back to earth.
Sydney WTA, rd of 16
Kvitova marching through this draw, d Peng.
Kerber pulls out a three set win also
Gadjosova d. Cibulkova. Seems like the CiCi Bellis loss really got to Cibulkova.
Strycova d. Stosur.
qf, Pliskova d. Suarez. Pliskova really moving on up.
Hobart WTA
Hantuchova vs. Ziyas, Rd 16. Daniela's work with Henin's coach is paying off, she is no longer losing 1st rd matches.