Together in Australia
Ana Ivanovic will begin the new WTA Tour season at the $220,000 Brisbane event on 4 January, while she will be accompanied for the trip to Australia not only by her family and coaching staff, but also her significant other – Fernando Verdasco.
This year’s winner of the Davis Cup trophy with Spain left it late to register for the tournament hosted by the grandiose Queensland Centre in Brisbane worth $82m. Verdasco’s appearance at the Brisbane International event means Serbia’s women’s tennis star Ana Ivanovic will manage to combine business and pleasure.
With the “hottest pair” of today as the talk of the town in Australia these days, the tournament has been given a different dimension, undermining the initial buzz of the news two Djokovics will be participating at Brisbane – the world’s number three Novak and his emerging tennis prodigy of a brother Marko. It is now clear all eyes will be on Ana and Fernando, while the media have already memorized their schedules and activities on the Australian mini-tour. They are to leave Florida in ten days, where they are now preparing for the 2009 season to come, which means they will have Christmas and the New Year celebrations in Australia.
- “I will arrive in Queensland in mid-December, where I will be practicing before the tournament starts. I used to prepare in Melbourne and Sydney before, but now I would like to discover other parts of Australia that I still haven’t visited,” says Ana Ivanovic.
The world’s number five on the women’s tour will be seed number one at Brisbane, while her partner Verdasco, currently ranked 16th in the ATP rankings, will be No. 3 seed at the men’s event in Brisbane, behind Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The organizers of the Gold Coast event are aware of the kind of media attraction the Ivanovic-Verdasco pair will generate and are cautious when giving statements on the issue.
- “Whether Ana prepares for the tournament on her own or in the company of someone else is not something I can discuss. But it’s possible that she has influenced Fernando Verdasco’s decision to begin his season at Brisbane,” says Tournament Director Steve Ayles.
Ivanovic has recently confirmed her relationship with Spanish Davis Cup hero, saying she has recently visited Fernando Verdasco in Spain.
- “We met at the US Open in August and that’s when it all began. He is a fantastic guy and I’m happy with him,” says the 2008 women’s Roland Garros winner.
The Serbian tennis star will be defending her runner-up place at the Australian Open, as Ivanovic lost the 2008 final to Maria Sharapova. The Serb’s main competition for the title at the pre-Australian Open event in Brisbane will be Victoria Azarenka, Marion Bartoli, Daniela Hantuchova, Na Li, Amelie Mauresmo, Sybille Bammer, Kaia Kanepi, Maria Kirilenko and Francesca Schiavone.
At the men’s event, Novak Djokovic is expected to be challenged by primarily Tsonga and Verdasco, while other seeded players are Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Mardy Fish, Richard Gasquet, Radek Stepanek.
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