Tennis: Big names ready for centre court

Feisty Australian Lleyton Hewitt says he is ready for a latest assault on the title. Picture / Reuters

The Australian Open starts today, with the stars of the world game ready to show their strokes before a critical audience.  We profile the leading contenders:

WOMEN'S SINGLES

Lindsay Davenport

A trim, smiling, Lindsay Davenport says she has adopted a new training plan in an attempt to add to her three Grand Slam titles.

The American, 30, had been on the brink of retirement 18 months ago before a spectacular 2005 in which she made the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals and won six WTA Tour titles.

The year gave her a new lease of life. She has changed coaches and adopted a new "long-term plan", which will be put into action today when she opens play on Centre Court at the Australian Open against Australian wildcard Casey Dellacqua.

"I'm really excited for this year," Davenport, who has not won a grand slam title since the 2000 Australian Open, said yesterday.

"I wouldn't have changed coaches and worked so hard if I wasn't really committed to another full year and hopefully accomplishing some more things in my career.

"Hopefully I'll be able to get back to a final or two and have an opportunity to play a better final this year.

"Certainly it's a huge goal of mine to try and accomplish that again."

Although Davenport said she was committed to trying to win another grand slam tournament this year, she was well aware that retirement was not too far away.

"The thought of quitting is not on my mind."

Serena Williams

The defending champion has warned opponents to underestimate her fitness at their peril, declaring herself in ideal condition to retain her title.

Williams, whose world ranking has slipped to No 13, largely because of knee and ankle problems which ruined the last half of her 2005 season, has been the subject of suggestions her shape and conditioning slipped away with it.

But Williams repeatedly proclaimed herself "absolutely" fit at a press conference yesterday and said she was happy for other players to doubt her.

"I like that, it would be like 'Oh, she's not fit', that's cool with me," Williams said. "That's fine, because then people will be like 'Okay, well she won't be able to run'. That's a great position to be in."

Asked how she rated her chances of successfully defending her Australian crown, Williams was just as emphatic.

"If I didn't like my chances of winning, I wouldn't be here," she said.

Williams said she did not read newspaper articles about herself, so had not been aware of the public speculation about her weight and fitness level.

But she did admit to checking out photographs of herself, including one recent unflattering shot, taken from behind while she was jogging.

"I saw one of me running. I was like 'Wow, my hamstring muscle is that big?' I had no idea my muscle was like that, but that's about it," she said.

Williams said she had not studied her first round opponent, China's Li Na. "I think I might have played her, but it might not have been her."

In fact, Williams and Na have never played each other.

Kim Clijsters

The world No 2 is one of the favourites to win the first grand slam of 2006 after capturing the US Open last year.

But she is facing a race against time to be ready because of complications with her injured hip.

The Belgian said she was still hopeful of playing in the tournament but would need the help of painkillers to get through her first match against Korean Cho Yoon-jeong today.

"Normally I'm not very big on taking anti-inflammatories or painkillers, but that's definitely something I'll do this tournament," she said yesterday. "I just have to make sure that in my mind I'm ready for being able to play with the pain."

Clijsters said her hip showed signs of improving after she injured it while warming up for a match at the Sydney International on Wednesday, but the inflammation was still troubling her.

She has been restricted to just 40 minutes' training over the past five days and still cannot serve or run from side to side without feeling some pain.

"That's the movement where it pinches a little bit so I'm just going to try to hold that off as long as possible.

"I'm just going to build it up gradually. I'm going to have a practice match and see how it feels.

"If it flares up again, that will be disappointing, of course. But hopefully it won't."

Clijsters, who has been plagued by injuries for the past two years, said she would have already withdrawn from the tournament if there was any risk to her long-term health and might still pull out if she was not satisfied with her fitness.

"I'm definitely going to go for all my shots. Otherwise, I don't want to play."

Martina Hingis

The former world No 1 has picked a tough time to make her comeback to Grand Slam tennis.

For only the second time in 30 years, all of the women's top-10 are featured in the main draw at the Australian Open.

The list goes on. There's 20 of the top 20 here and 46 of the top 50; there's eight women who've held the No 1 ranking and five former Australian Open winners in the field.

Hingis, who spent 209 weeks at No 1 in five stints, retired in 2002 because of long-term foot and heel problems.

Despite winning three and losing three Australian Open finals over a six-year span from 1997, the 25-year-old Swiss star is a rank outsider at Melbourne Park because of the power evolution in women's tennis.
She doesn't even have a ranking.

"It feels different definitely from coming here playing in '95 when I was 15, [as a] fearless rookie," she said yesterday. "Ten years later, definitely you have some butterflies in your stomach."

Big serves and ground strokes have become the norm in women's tennis since Venus and Serena Williams led the vanguard of heavy hitters.

Hingis relied on touch, anticipation and guile. 2004 champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is about the same size as Hingis, has developed a game that helps her combat the heavy hitters.

"She hits it very fast and deep," said Hingis. "That's the difference in today's game. [Players] are more relentless. From the beginning to the end, you have to be 100 per cent focused. It comes with the physique and the power."

But Hingis still hopes to use some of her old tricks.

"I never could overpower other players, but still I hope I can find other winning strategies," she said.

"That's what I'm looking forward to finding out, if I can still do so."

* * *

MEN'S SINGLES

Roger Federer

Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian all spring to mind as Roger Federer's biggest concerns ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament starting today.

But the world No 1 said he was more concerned about finding out something about his first round opponent, Uzbek wildcard Denis Istomin.

Istomin, who has no biographical information aside from a birth date and his ranking on the ATP tour's official website, was tracked down by a newspaper on Saturday which managed to extract some details from him.

The match will be his first in a grand slam. When he was 16, he was involved in a serious car crash, suffering a broken hip and wrist and told he would never play competitive tennis again.

He did not play for two years and even though his Federer showdown was his grand slam debut he was undaunted.

"For me, it's good I win, maybe," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I can, I wish."

His appraisal of his prospects against a man ranked 194 places higher and who has compiled a 155-10 win-loss record over the past two years may be a touch optimistic, though Federer was refusing to dismiss his prospects.

"[He is] definitely nobody to underestimate because we all know also guys ranked outside of the top-150, 200, they are dangerous opponents.

"I beat [Carlos] Moya when I was 300 and he was number four in the world. Everything is possible."

Though highly doubtful.

Andy Roddick

A revitalised Andy Roddick says he is in the best shape of his life after recovering from a back injury and a disappointing end to last season.

The big-serving American was a shock first-round loser at last year's United States Open then missed the season-ending Masters Cup after injuring his back.

But the world No 3 says the extended break proved a blessing in disguise because it enabled him to freshen up for the Australian Open.

"I feel good, I feel fit, I'm excited to get it going," he said yesterday."

Roddick said he spent the off-season tinkering with his game after the bitter disappointment of his straight sets loss to rank outsider Gilles Muller at the US Open.

The 23-year-old won the US Open in 2003 and has not won a grand slam title since, but said the defeat to Muller had forced him to reassess his game.

"It put a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I don't know if it will end up being a blessing in disguise or not."

He plays Switzerland's Michael Lammer on the Rod Laver centre court in his opening match today.

"I feel probably more excited to start this year than I ever have before.

"I'm more prepared now than I have been in the past. But that doesn't always translate into instant success."

Lleyton Hewitt

Like a boxer waiting for the opening bell, the feisty Australian says he is ready for a latest assault on the title.

Beaten in last year's final by Russian Marat Safin, Hewitt has not had an ideal preparation with a stomach bug hindering him at the Sydney International, the only tournament he won last year.

His greatest achievements in 2005 came off the court with his marriage to television soap actress Bec Cartwright and the arrival of their first child, a daughter, but he maintains his renowned competitive spirit will carry him through.

"It's something that once the bell rings, I'll be ready to go on."

Seeded third, Hewitt faces a relatively tough draw and will play either the equally feisty Juan Ignacio Chela, of Argentina, or rising Briton Andrew Murray in the second round after his opening match against Czech Robin Vik.

Hewitt also faces a possible semifinal against world No 1 Roger Federer.

As if to prove his competitive juices were still flowing, Hewitt took his almost customary swipe at the sluggish speed of the hardcourt surfaces at Melbourne Park, lamenting that nothing had been done despite complaints last year.

"There's no doubt in my mind that, you know, it's not the greatest surface for injuries ... I think it causes a lot of friction on your body," Hewitt said.

"It's disappointing but, you know, there's no point whingeing about it. "I've got to go out there and compete."