FED: 84 MINUTE FIRST ROUND

MELBOURNE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Roger Federer fired up the Australian Open with a blistering start to his title defence on Monday, bringing some welcome warmth to an unseasonably cool Melbourne Park on opening day.

The first grand slam tournament of the year is famous for its searing heat but a blustery day with the occasional shower had the sweatshirt replacing the T-shirt as the garment of choice among much of the 15,000 crowd on the Rod Laver Arena.

Federer retained his trademark bandana even though the ease of his 6-1 6-1 6-3 victory over Slovakian Lukas Lacko and the cool afternoon air made the threat of sweat interfering with his vision slight.

"I thought I played great," the four-times Australian Open champion and second seed told reporters. "Tried to play offensive from the start and see where it takes me. It didn't work. I got back and played a bit more risky and so forth.

"I thought it was a good match. I don't think he played too bad himself. I saw some talent in him too and that's why I think I was really happy I chose that tactics early on to pressure him."

Federer taking risks meant a treat for the crowd, who witnessed some brilliant shot-making from the 16-times grand slam champion.

It was hard to believe that the Swiss maestro's backhand was once considered a weakness in his game as he stroked impossible looking winners off it from the back of the court to set up a second round meeting with Frenchman Gilles Simon.

OZ ON TSN

MEN'S OZ SEEDS

(Reuters) - Men's seeds for the 2011 Australian 
Open, which starts at Melbourne Park on Monday.	
  1. Rafael Nadal (Spain)	
  2. Roger Federer (Switzerland)	
  3. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)	
  4. Robin Soderling (Sweden)	
  5. Andy Murray (Britain)	
  6. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)	
  7. David Ferrer (Spain)	
  8. Andy Roddick (U.S.)	
  9. Fernando Verdasco (Spain)	
 10. Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)	
 11. Jurgen Melzer (Austria)	
 12. Gael Monfils (France)	
 13. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)	
 14. Nicolas Almagro (Spain)	
 15. Marin Cilic (Croatia)	
 16. Mardy Fish (U.S.)	
 17. Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)	
 18. Sam Querrey (U.S.)	
 19. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)	
 20. John Isner (U.S.)	
 21. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)	
 22. Michael Llodra (France)	
 23. Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)	
 24. Ernests Gulbis (Latvia)	
 25. Albert Montanes (Spain)	
 26. Juan Monaco (Argentina)	
 27. David Nalbandian (Argentina)	
 28. Richard Gasquet (France)	
 29. Viktor Troicki (Serbia)	
 30. Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)	
 31. Feliciano Lopez (Spain)	
 32. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain)

ANNACONE : TWENTY POSSIBLE

(Reuters) - Swiss world number two Roger Federer could extend his record grand slam tally to 20 if he remains fit and motivated, according to his coach Paul Annacone.

"He can win every tournament he plays, he's probably not going to, but he can win every match he plays and there's not a lot of guys you can say that about," Annacone, a former coach of Pete Sampras and Briton Tim Henman, told the Australian Open website (www.australianopen.com).

"So if he can stay healthy and happy and eager I don't know what the end number would be, but is 20 realistic, sure, why not?"

Defending Australian Open champion Federer hired Annacone after his disappointing quarter-final exit at Wimbledon last year. He has credited the Californian for helping him mount a late-season resurgence, capped by victory over top-ranked rival Rafa Nadal to win the season-ending World Tour Finals.

Annacone, who works with Swiss coach Severin Luthi in the Federer camp, said he had not joined to teach Federer "how to slice bread" but had helped the Swiss on his strategy and motivation.

"He's not all of a sudden going to have a two-handed backhand," he said. "It's about combining the head, heart and talent components of a player, and understanding how they interact, the best way to match up against other players, and ultimately, the best way for them to keep having fun doing it, and the best way to try to get better.

" Roger is very eager to continue improving, so when you see that in someone who's won as much as he has, it's pretty incredible."

Federer, 29, will bid for his 17th grand slam at the Australian Open starting next Monday. He has been in ominous form, kicking off his season with victory at the Qatar Open where he improved with every match and thrashed Russian former top-10 player Nikolay Davydenko in the final.

"His last six months, he's been playing great tennis, had some down time with his family, rebounded last week winning Doha, he's ready to play," said Annacone.

"I don't think I would change much that he's done, his body feels good, his mind feels good, now it's just about getting out there and getting things going."

(Writing by Ian Ransom; Editing by John Mehaffey; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

DEL PO SQUEEZES BY LOPEZ

SYDNEY, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Juan Martin del Potro, winning his first match in about a year, survived a first-round battle with three tie-breakers Monday at a tennis tournament in Sydney.

Del Potro, whose play has been limited because of a wrist injury, came away a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-3) victor over sixth-seeded Feliciano Lopez at the Medibank International tournament.

The injury kept del Potro, who had just two matches since last year's Australian Open, from trying to defend his 2009 U.S. Open championship.

Del Potro and Lopez combined for 41 aces but only two service breaks -- one by each player in the first set -- in battling for 3 hours, 20 minutes. Lopez had one match-point chance at 7-6 in the second-set tie-breaker but del Potro fought that off. Del Potro also saved six break-point chances in the third set.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2011/01/10/Del-Potro-wins-marathon-match-in-return/UPI-26521294666776/#ixzz1AeCBcQkY

DELPO BACK?

From the depths of despair, former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro will make his much-anticipated comeback to tennis on Monday at the Sydney International.

One of only two men since 2005 other than living legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to have won a grand slam crown, del Potro has barely been sighted since last January.

A wrist injury sidelined the towering Argentine for eight months and he has had to fight depression to make it back on tour.

"I had some very bad moments last year," he said on Sunday.

"I had my family behind me - and my friends, my coaches. It was very important for me to be here today (back playing).

"I had an operation and I felt very bad last year, but now I have different feelings. I am playing again and hope to play good tennis and to be injury-free."

Ranked fifth in the world before being forced out of the game after last year's Australian Open, del Potro was at his lowest before undergoing surgery.

"Before the surgery because nobody knows my real injury," he said.

The uncertainty was unbearable as del Potro pondered the frightening prospect that his career could be over at just 21.

The 198cm man mountain was reduced to a nervous wreck as doctor after doctor delivered different prognoses.

"I saw many doctors and one says in maybe two weeks I'll recover, another says in two months," del Potro said.

"I made the decision to have surgery and I knew after the surgery that in four to six months I would play again.

"But when you have surgery, you are in the hands of the doctor. You just lay down and they know how they can fix me."

Del Potro ended Federer's five-year US Open reign with a powerhouse five-set triumph over the Swiss superstar in the 2009 final in New York, but has since slumped to 258th in the rankings.

"I have different goals for this year," he said.

"Of course last year when I was in Australia my goal was to be number one before March and now I think my goal is to play well again, that's all."

Del Potro said he was indebted to tournament director Craig Watson for handing him a wildcard into the Sydney event and the South American begins the long journey back against Spanish sixth seed Feliciano Lopez.

"I just want to play," he said.

"I don't know if I will win or if I will lose, but I will do my 100 per cent on the court.

"Of course my goal in the next couple of years is to win another grand slam, but it is a long, long way to get them.

"I'm just trying to feel good again on the court."

 

ABC SPORT.AU

NESTOR - MIRNYI

FEDERER DOHA TWEENER

NESTOR AWARDED ORDER OF CANADA

He's already Canada's most decorated tennis player with six Grand Slam doubles titles and an Olympic gold medal among his accomplishments.

But at age 38, Daniel Nestor shows no signs of slowing down.

"I feel like I keep doing certain things better, understanding things more and finding out more things about myself," the Toronto left-hander said this week as he prepares for his first tournament of the season. "For sure I'm a late bloomer."

Nestor's impressive career earned him another accolade this week when he was appointed to the Order of Canada, joining many other top Canadian athletes.

MONO HIT FED, RODDICK, STEPANEK

World No. 8 Andy Roddick says he feels at full strength for the first time in more than six months after overcoming the strength-sapping illness mononucleosis.

Roddick said he fought the illness for most of this past year, when he failed to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the French and U.S. Opens.

He said Wednesday he had worked hard to regain his fitness during the recent offseason and is looking toward next week’s Brisbane Invitational as a springboard into a better 2011.

“For me it’s just a matter of getting right, getting healthy,” Roddick said. “I battled sickness for a big part of last year and from there I just felt like I was playing catch-up.

“You train hard and you get hurt in training coming back. You don’t train, you rest and you try and come back and your body is not right and it shows.

A former No. 1, Roddick’s ranking dropped as low as 13 in August before climbing back into the top 10. He says he feels ready to again crack the world’s top five.

The Czech player has dropped to No. 62 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings after suffering a bout of mononucleosis in the middle part of 2010, but posted encouraging results in the final six weeks of the season and said on Friday that he is feeling fit again ahead of the new year.

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2010/12/29/2741131/tennis-roddick-on-the-mend-after.html#ixzz19bs5TX4G

2011 ATP CALENDAR

1.2 January

1.3 February

1.4 March

1.5 April

1.6 May

1.7 June

1.8 July

1.9 August

1.10 September

1.11 October

1.12 November

SAMPRAS TROPIES STOLEN

Tennis star Pete Sampras says most of his trophies and other memorabilia were stolen from a West Los Angeles public storage facility.

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Sampras still has 13 of his 14 grand slam trophies.

But thieves took most of the hardware from his 64 tour title wins, two Davis Cups, an Olympic ring and six trophies for finishing world No. 1 in the year-end rankings from 1993 to 1998.

The theft happened three weeks ago. Sampras says he’s getting the word out in hopes somebody offers a lead.

Sampras retired in 2003 and said the loss is most upsetting because he would have liked to have shown the trophies to his children.

He says the loss “is like having the history of my tennis life taken away.”

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

DELPO RETURNS

U.S. Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina will make his comeback from a 12-month injury layoff at the Sydney International in January after being handed a wild card into the tournament.

Del Potro has been out of action since last year's Australian Open with a wrist injury, dropping from 4 to 259 on the men's world rankings. The wild card will allow him to join a field for the Jan. 9-15 tournament which includes Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and American Sam Querrey.

Organizers confirmed Wednesday that seven of the world's top 10 women will take part in the Australian Open warm-up event at Sydney Olympic Park.

AP

VENI, VOLI, VICI

[ I came, I volleyed, I won]

Fed beats Nadal in London

 

World No. 2 Roger Federer won his fifth title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday when he defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in a gripping finale at The O2 in London.

As the undefeated champion of the world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament, Federer received 1,500 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points and the maximum amount of $1,630,000 in prize money.  It is the fourth time that he has been crowned the undefeated champion at the season finale, having dropped only one set this week.

ATP

NESTOR WINS LONDON

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic ended their three-year partnership on a high note Sunday as they were crowned champions of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the second time. In a close final they defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 7-6(6), 6-4 at The O2 in London.

Next year Nestor will team up with Mirnyi, while Zimonjic will join forces with France’s Michael Llodra. In the on-court trophy presentation Nestor joked: “We’ve had three amazing years. People wonder why we are splitting up. The truth is we play great tennis, but we really don’t like each other!”

ATP

LONDON - FORMAT AND MONEY

MOYA RETIRES

Former World No. 1 Carlos Moya has announced his retirement from professional tennis at the age of 34. The Spaniard has been troubled with a persistent right foot injury and informed media at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that the injury has forced him to call time on his illustrious 15-year career.

Moya played his last match on the ATP World Tour at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open in May, when he suffered a heavy defeat to German Benjamin Becker. It was at that moment, he acknowledged, that the time had come retire after doctors had been unable to settle on an effective course of treatment for his foot.

“I wanted to play the big tournaments and say goodbye but I got to the Madrid tournament and I still wasn't 100 per cent. I am still young for life but for sport, I am already knocking on a bit," said Moya. "I realised with that match that the moment had arrived. It's not how I dreamed of ending my career."

ATP

LONDON SKED

 

 

LONDON - 21st NOVEMBER

PARIS QUARTERS MATCH-UPS

 

Subtract 5 hours to translate the given local time to our DST.

14:00 local time is 8 am Friday morn, here.