I am presuming that the Hopman Cup isn't particularly strict on nationality qualification, unless Fitzy's neglected to tell us something.
They probably are strict re. the initial teams but apparently an Aussie pair played the doubles rubber for the US in the end, so if a player is injured I think the idea is just to get a match on court for the spectators.
Yep. If one of the existing players has to drop out the team automatically "loses" the match but they try and make sure that some tennis gets played.
Had the pleasure of meeting Fitzy in Madrid whilst watching Sloane play a couple of matches. He is clearly enjoying his role as coach/hitting partner/mentor and is fully committed to his job. Just got the feeling though that the "itch" to play competitively hasn't completely gone away though. I may be completely wrong on this one, but watch this space.
Myself and paulisi caught up with Fitzy for a chat at Birmingham in June and other than a bit of a cold was in fine form. HOWEVER I am a bit worried about recent developments characterised by this photo which Fitzy has recently uploaded to Instagram.
I had a couple of days at US Open qualifying last week and Fitzy now appears to be working with Urszula Radwanska. Not sure to what extent, whether it's just hitting partner or main coach but he seemed to be the only one working with her during her morning practice but he was watching her match courtside with one other coach / trainer.
Didn't see Sloane at all so not sure if it's exclusive work with Radwanska but good to see he's managed to keep himself in the inner circle so to speak.
I had a couple of days at US Open qualifying last week and Fitzy now appears to be working with Urszula Radwanska. Not sure to what extent, whether it's just hitting partner or main coach but he seemed to be the only one working with her during her morning practice but he was watching her match courtside with one other coach / trainer.
Didn't see Sloane at all so not sure if it's exclusive work with Radwanska but good to see he's managed to keep himself in the inner circle so to speak.
Cheers, Josh. Good to know. And hope you had a great time in New York.