It was recently announced that the Hopeman Cup would be moved into the ITF’s control. Moments after this happened, Founder Paul McNamee was sacked as tournament director.
A boardroom battle at an International Tennis Federation meeting in Vienna resulted in former Wimbledon doubles champion McNamee out of the unique tournament he founded almost a quarter of a century ago along with others including Aussie Wimbledon winner Pat Cash.
The ITF will take over the lucrative event before passing management rights onto its junior partner Tennis Australia.
Both Li Na and Petra Kvitova have confirmed that they will be playing at the Hopman Cup next January.
Li Na will play for China with Wu Di and Kvitova with Tomas Berdych. The Kvitova and Berdych combination are going to be extremely hard to beat!
Additionally, it will be interesting to see how Australia do with Lleyton Hewitt and Jarmila Gajdosova. I would have much rather seen Bernard Tomic and Samantha Stosur play for Australia!!
Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych will be representing the Czech Republic at this years Hopman Cup. Both players are within the top 10 in the world and it is going to be amazingly difficult to beat them.
“They are both thrilled by the idea,” said Miroslav Cernosek, who acts as the pair’s agent.
“Mixed doubles will definitely be a very attractive event at the Olympics, with players like (Roger) Federer and (Martina) Hingis taking part,” said Cernosek.
The Hopman Cup, held in Perth from December 31 to January 7.
It was great see Australia win their first match of the 2011 Hopman Cup. However, Im getting a little bit tired of seeing the same players year after year after year. Is this because Australian tennis isnt producing quality youngsters or is it because the organisers are just trying to fill as many seats as possible and not blood young players into the limelight?
With Lleyton Hewitt and Casey Dellacqua already confirmed starters, tournament director Paul McNamee announced the Russian siblings Marat Safin and Dinara Safina would team up for the first time to form the second team in the tournament. McNamee also admitted he is chasing Djokovic to play the tournament, but there will be no Roger Federer or Raphael Nadal in Perth because they have already committed to other tournaments. Im really looking forward to seeing some new faces in the Perth teams event this year, instead of having most of the top players finding a few up and comers has to be on McNamee’s list.
With Lleyton Hewitt and Casey Dellacqua already confirmed starters, tournament director Paul McNamee announced the Russian siblings Marat Safin and Dinara Safina would team up for the first time to form the second team in the tournament. McNamee also admitted he is chasing Djokovic to play the tournament, but there will be no Roger Federer or Raphael Nadal in 
