KOOYONG CLINCHES
CHOICE FIELD
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
2010 AAMI CLASSIC
January 13-16 – Kooyong
Three top ten players have been confirmed for the
2010 AAMI Classic
at Kooyong
(January 13-16), two of whom will be competing for the first time:
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA
FERNANDO VERDASCO
They will be joined by:
FERNANDO GONZALEZ
ROBIN SODERLING
TOMMY HAAS
MARCOS BAGHDATIS
So where does that leave five time participant,
world no. 1 and current AAMI Classic
champion, ROGER FEDERER (SUI)?
Tournament Director, Colin Stubs,
said today at the event’s launch at Rippon Lea, Melbourne: "I have been
asked by Roger to keep a spot open for him in January’s field. He has
not yet decided on his Australian Open preparation because of the recent
birth of his twin girls, Myla and Charlene, with wife Mirka Vavrinec.
Naturally I said I would do so and clarity is not expected until early
in the New Year. I have a few options in mind as a fall-back position
and will work on those in the coming weeks".
World no. 4,
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
is making
his first Kooyong appearance. The 22 year old Serbian, who credits his
family with much of his success, has had a good year to date. He won the
Dubai tournament in February and took out the inaugural Serbian Open in
May. He was a finalist in Miami/Monte Carlo/Rome Masters, Halle and more
recently in Cincinnati; semi-finalist in Sydney, Marseille and Madrid
Masters and quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, Indian
Wells/Montreal Masters and Wimbledon. He was consistently ranked no. 3
from 13.8.07 to 11.5.09.
Seventh-ranked,
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA,
will be a popular new-comer to the
AAMI Classic
eight-man
field. The 24 year old Frenchman won the hearts of Australian fans early
last year when, after making the semi-finals in Adelaide, he reached the
final of the Australian Open, where he lost to Djokovic in four sets.
This year he won in Marseille and Johannesburg (bringing his total
ATP World Tour
titles to
4), got to the fourth round at Roland Garros; semis in Montreal (where
he ended Federer’s 21 match winning streak) and quarter-finals in
Brisbane, Sydney, Australian Open, Miami Masters and Rotterdam.
FERNANDO VERDASCO ,
who beat Fernando Gonzalez into third place at the 09
AAMI Classic,
is returning for the second time. The tenth ranked Spaniard stunned
Rafael Nadal (and the rest of the tennis world) at last January’s
Australian Open by almost defeating him in an epic semi-final match that
lasted a record 5 hours, 14 minutes. He has been a consistent performer
in the top ten this year - finalist in Brisbane; fourth rounds at Roland
Garros & Wimbledon and quarter-finalist in Bastad, Barcelona &
Madrid/Rome/Monte Carlo/Miami/Indian Wells Masters events. He took out
his first hardcourt title last week in New Haven.
Chilean, FERNANDO
GONZALES
(ranked
11), back for his fourth Kooyong appearance, is a consistent
crowd-pleaser. He began the year strongly, reaching the fourth round at
the Australian Open and going on to win the Vina del Mar tournament in
his home country. He reached the semi-finals in Washington, Barcelona,
Rome Masters and the French Open, where he lost to eventual finalist
Robin Soderling. Gonzales has won 11
ATP World Tour
titles and
is the first player to have won medals at successive Olympics – Gold in
doubles, Bronze in singles in Athens 2004 and singles Silver in Beijing
2008.
The AAMI Classic
is pleased
to announce the debut of Swede,
ROBIN SODERLING.
Presently ranked 12, Soderling reached his first Grand Slam final at
Roland Garros (defeated by Federer) after beating Rafael Nadal in the
fourth round. He followed up by making the round of 16 at Wimbledon,
taking out his fourth career title in Bastad and reaching the
quarter-finals in Washington. Earlier this year he won the Sunrise
tournament in Florida, made the semi-finals in Auckland and quarters in
Brisbane. Soderling is coached by former Swedish pro, Magnus Norman.
TOMMY HAAS notches up his fifth Kooyong visit. The
31 year old German (who has lived in the US full-time since the age of
13) has struck a "purple patch" this year, winning in Halle and reaching
the semi-finals at Wimbledon (where he lost to Federer, ending a 10
match winning streak) and in LA. He also lost to Federer at Roland
Garros, going down in 5 sets, having led 2 sets to 0 in their fourth
round match. Presently ranked 21, his other best results have been in
San Jose, Houston and Washington where he got to the quarter-finals.
Amiable Cypriot
MARCOS BAGHDATIS
(ranked
110), a popular figure on Kooyong’s centre court for the past two years,
is back for the third time. Marcos has been working hard to regain the
form and confidence which took him to a career high of 8 in 2006. He
recently took out the Vancouver Challenger in August and earlier in the
year made the quarter-finals in Johannesburg and Delray Beach.
Stubs is well-pleased with the field he has assembled:
"We are delighted to welcome Novak, Jo-Wilfried and Robin to Kooyong for
the first time" he said at today’s launch. "Fernando Verdasco is one of
the hottest players on the Tour right now and it’s great to have
Fernando Gonzalez back for his fourth visit. Tommy Haas has had a
resurgence in form this year and Marcos – well, everyone loves Marcos"
he added.
Stubs was also excited to announce: "We have entered
into a 5 year arrangement with
Tennis Australia
which will
guarantee our 7 Network
telecast going forward. The Network will provide approx. 12 hours of
live national (metropolitan and regional) coverage over the four days.
Added to that is the international distribution by
IEC (International Event & Communication
in Sport),
which went
to 18 countries in 2009".
KLTC President, Ian Hill ,
updated the media throng with news of his clubhouse renovations: "The
Club renovations are progressing according to schedule, with the
anticipated handover prior to Christmas. We look forward to showcasing
the club to members, players, media and corporate supporters during the
2010 AAMI Classic"
he said.
The event’s new website,
www.aamiclassic.com.au,
is now operational. The site has been designed and built by
Bryce Ford
from
Guns4Hire.
Wayne Arthurs
was today
announced as the "Face of the
AAMI Classic".
Wayne will be involved in a number of activities leading up to and
during the event.
Play begins at 11.00 am on Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday (Jan. 13, 14 &15) and 1.00 pm on Saturday (Jan. 16). Corporate
facilities are approx. 80% reserved and tickets are now on sale through
Ticketmaster on 13 6100.
For further information, please contact:
Marie Kelley (Media & Corporate Sales Consultant)
t. 03 9827.8422 m. 0417 168019
marie@aamiclassic.com.au
Website:
www.aamiclassic.com.au
Player bios:
www.atpworldtour.com
Major Sponsor: AAMI
Support Partners: Seven Network
IEC
Snap Printing
Rowland Major Events
Schweppes
3AW
Diadora
Wilson
Vittoria Coffee
Tennis Australia
Tennis Victoria
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