Friday, 15 December 2017

Tennis back in a fortnight

Enough of no top level tennis - the ATP and WTA tours are about to resume for 2018 and Brisbane has attracted a sensational field in both the men’s and women’s events.

Starting on 31 December with qualifying, Australians will enjoy the following stars:

Raval Nadal - World number one and two time GS winner in 2017

Grigor Dimitrov - World number three and winner of the 2017 ATP Finals 

                                  He is the defending champion 

Andy Murray - World number one in 2017 until injury struck

Nick Kyrgios - Australia’s excitement machine 

Kei Nishikori - previous top 5 player returning from injury

Milos Raonic - previous top 5 player also returning from injury

Garbine Muguruza - World number two and 2017 Wimbledon champion

Karolina Pliskova - World number four and defending champion

Elina Svitolina - World number six and winner of 5 titles in 2017, including 3 Premier 5

Caroline Garcia - World number eight and winner of both a Premier Mandatory and a Premier 5 title in 2017

Johanna Konta - World number nine and winner of 2 titles in 2017 including the Miami Premier Mandatory

Kristina Mladenovic - World number 11 and winner in St Petersburg 2017

Sloane Stephens - World number 13 and 2017 US Open Champion

Anastasija Sevastova - World number 16 and winner in Mallorca in 2017

Ash Barty - World number 17, top Aussie, and winner in Malaysia in 2017

Additionally we have previous GS champions Petra Kvitova - Wimbledon 2011 and 2014 - and Samantha Stosur - US Open 2011.

There are 12 of the worlds top twenty women competing in Brisbane, making it one of the strongest fields in the event’s history.

The WTA tour also kicks off in Shenzhen on 31 December with qualifying.

The tournament highlights World number one Simona Halep, who was runner up at Roland Garros in 2017, but captured the Madrid Premier Mandatory title for a second successive year.

Jelena Ostapenko, who defeated Simona at Roland Garros this year to win her maiden GS title, will be another star attraction at Shenzhen, as will 5 time major winner Maria Sharapova.

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