HOPMAN SERVES UP SMORGASBORD OF STRENGTH 18/10/2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennis balls will be flying fast and furiously around the Burswood Dome at the Hyundai Hopman Cup with the announcement today that world No.11 Tomas Berdych, No.12 Mario Ancic, No.5 Nadia Petrova, No.21 Dmitry Tursunov and Australia’s own Alicia Molik will join 5 time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams and No.8 Tommy Robredo in Perth this year. The line up of teams is as follows: Australia – Alicia Molik and Mark Philippoussis Croatia – Sanja Ancic and Mario Ancic Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych Korea Republic – Y J Cho and H T Lee Russia – Nadia Petrova and Dmitry Tursunov Spain – Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo USA – Venus Williams and Taylor Dent Winner Asian Hopman Cup “These guys and girls reflect the way tennis is played today. If the ball sits up – see you later, it will be belted away. Berdych, Ancic, Tursunov, Molik, Dent, Williams, and Safarova – we are talking big servers and big hitters. There is a reason they are all ranked where they are – big games. Ancic, Robredo and Dent dominate with their big forehands. Tursunov, Berdych, Venus and Petrova tee off on both sides and all know how to finish the point by hitting winners from anywhere on the court. This is the modern game and Australia has a tough challenge ahead of them. Luckily our big servers can match it with the best.” said Tournament Director Paul McNamee. Australia will be represented by Alicia Molik and Mark Philippoussis, two of Australia’s most successful international players. They play similar styles with massive serves backed up by big forehands so will not be overpowered by the other teams. The Australian team has tasted representative success before - Alicia is the 2004 Olympic Games bronze medallist and Mark Philippoussis is the only Australian Player to win both the Davis Cup (twice) and the Hopman Cup. Alicia will be looking for a successful Hopman Cup to kick off the Australian Summer of Tennis, as occurred two years ago. Entering the Hyundai Hopman Cup for the first time are the Republic of South Korea. “Hyundai have sponsored the tournament since its inception so we have a long association with Korea. It is difficult to get a good male and female player from small tennis nations so with the success this year of H T Lee and Y J Cho we were able to invite the Korean Team and they quickly accepted.” Russia enter the field as the number one seeds and therefore the team to beat. This year they are represented by Nadia Petrova and Dmitry Tursunov, both first time visitors to Perth. Earlier this year, Petrova rose to number three on the world rankings before a hip injury halted her progress, however in the last two weeks she won in Stuttgart to claim her fifth tournament title for the year, and was runner up in Moscow taking her back up to the number 5 position. Tursunov came onto the world stage with a fantastic run into the US Open, coming fourth in the US Open series. He then followed up with a marathon 5 set win over Andy Roddick in the Davis Cup semi final to take Russia into the upcoming final. Perhaps the rowdiest crowd at this year’s event will be saved for the brother –sister duo of Sanja and Mario Ancic. The Croatians will have something to cheer for! Mario, only 22, is clearly a top ten player, fulfilling his awesome potential as he matures. His sister Sanja is 18 years old and just entering the world of international professional tennis. If she serves like him the other teams are in trouble! The most talented player may have been left to last – 21 year old Tomas Berdych. From the Czech Republic he will be playing with his girlfriend, 19 year old winner of three WTA titles and world number 39 Lucie Safarova. Similar in style to Marat Safin, he bombs off both sides, is a pure hitter of the ball and is currently placed just outside the world‘s top ten and ready for the breakthrough performance that will set his career alight. The purists are fans and Perth gets their chance to see him and decide for themselves! Two teams have been announced previously - defending champions USA represented by 5 time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams, and defending champion Taylor Dent and Spain represented by former Hopman Cup Champion and world number 8 Tommy Robredo and the female Spanish number one Anabel Medina Garrigues. The final place in the field will be taken by the winner of the inaugural Asian Hopman Cup which will be held in India in November. Seeds one and four go into Group A and Seeds two and three go into Group B. The teams in seeded order are: Russia Spain Czech Republic USA Croatia Australia Korea Republic Winner Asian Hopman Cup In Group A - will be Russia and USA which gives the tournament a blockbuster female match between Nadia Petrova and Venus Williams. In Group B – will be Spain and Czech Republic which gives a tantalising match between the two Tommy’s, Robredo and Berdych! The Official Draw will take place today to determine the other members of each group. The first drawn team from seeds 5 & 6 will go into Group A the other in Group B and the first drawn team from seeds 7 & 8 will go into Group A and the second in Group B. Hyundai Hopman Cup XIX, to be held from 30 December 2006 to 5 January 2007, is the Official Mixed Teams Competition of the ITF.