Week 1 Hopman Cup

Sim · County player

Week 1 Hopman Cup

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Though an officially sanctioned (and organised) ITF tournament, WTA call Hopman Cup, 'an exhibition event',
They definitely don't count the results in yearly win/loss totals.

I think therefore that any results would likewise not count towards carer best wins.

Not sure about the ATP position.

steven · Tennis legend

I would be inclined not to count Hopman Cup results towards career best wins, though I suppose there's an argument that if Fed Cup counts (another ITF team event with no ranking points available), then maybe Hopman Cup should too. I would be nice for that to become an issue this week, though!

Here are GB's fixtures in Group B - barring any further withdrawals:

Monday 5 January 09.30 GMT v FRANCE

Andy Murray WR 6 v Benoît Paire (FRA) WR 126 (CH 24 in 2013)

Heather Watson WR 50 v Alizé Cornet (FRA) WR 18 (CH 11 in 2009) #

Murray & Watson v Paire & Cornet (FRA)

# H2H 0-1 - Cornet won 4 & 4 in Washington in 2013

Wednesday 7 January 02.00 GMT v POLAND

Andy Murray WR 6 v Jerzy Janowicz (POL) WR 43 (CH 14 in 2013) *

Heather Watson WR 50 v Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) WR 5 (CH 2 in 2012) #

Murray & Watson v Janowicz & Raswanska

* H2H 4-1 - Janowicz in Paris in 2012, Andy in DC in 2009 at Wimbledon in 2013 and twice in China last year

# H2H 0-3 - Hev won 2 games at Wimbledon in 2012, 4 at the AO in 2013 and 7 in Indian Wells last year

Friday 9 January 09.30 GMT v AUSTRALIA

Andy Murray WR 6 v Matt Ebden (AUS) WR 264 (CH 61 in 2012) *

Heather Watson WR 50 v Casey Dellacqua (AUS) WR 29 (CH 26 last Sep)

Murray & Watson v Ebden & Dellacqua

* H2H 2-0 - Andy won 3 & 2 in Shanghai in 2011 and 3-6 6-0 6-1 in Miami last year

Edit: rankings updated

-- Edited by steven on Sunday 4th of January 2015 10:57:10 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Andy going nicely, so far, against Paire - Andy leading 6-2 3-3

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

The left shoulder was obviously giving him some trouble in the second set. At one point he pulled off some strapping which was bothering him. However he closed the match out 6-2 7-5. I hope he goes carefully in the mixed doubles and gets some more treatment before he has to play again.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Andy won 62 75.

Heather on court, a mess off the ground so far. Second serve looks incredibly vulnerable but first seems to have a bit more bite.

*1-3

Looks in superb shape.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Heather saves 3 break points at 0-40, winning a superb point at 30-40, then a fourth with a big serve, miss-hits a forehand on game point, broken on a HUGE double

1-4*

What little wind she had in her sails has just evaporated. Would have been a big confidence boost to hold there.

This could be a tough week, Radwanska will absolutely obliterate her if she plays like this.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Better, loosened up in that game, hit the ball much more cleanly, breaks to love

*2-4

Heather races out to 40-0 as Cornet hits a few howlers, but Cornet flips her switch and strings together 5 stunning points to break again

2-5*

Shame. Cornet was completely unplayable in those 5 points.

-- Edited by PaulM on Monday 5th of January 2015 11:54:14 AM

PaulM · Tennis legend

Cornet breezes through the first set 6-2.

It's not even that competitive :(

PaulM · Tennis legend

Saves two break points to get back to deuce, but broken anyway.

0-1*

PaulM · Tennis legend

1-2*

PaulM · Tennis legend

Cornet holds from 0-30, and Heather looks seriously despondent.

*1-3

Holds to 30, has the crowd support but she's not giving them a huge amount to cheer about.

2-3*

PaulM · Tennis legend

Game set and match Cornet, 62 62

That was pretty bad. Cornet was unplayable in parts but when she wasn't Heather did very little to put her under any kind of pressure. Over-pressed as she was feeling the pressure, hitting a barrel-load of wild errors. She did play some nice points here and there but it just wasn't consistent enough. Cornet was far more aggressive from the very first point, and was just dismantling the second serve. That put a lot of doubts in Heather's mind early on I think.

Still, court time against a top player, better to be blowing out the cobwebs here and having a bad day than in a Tour event, but I didn't see anything that she had obviously been working on or adding to her game over the winter (other than the gym time).

Deciding mixed up shortly.

indiana · Tennis legend

Good to hear how fit Heather is looking.

Especially still very early in the season many technical issues can often be sorted out fairly quickly. Fitness can't.

wimdledont · Challenger level

Mauresmo mixed up shortly;)

This whole tournament is a dream gig for Heather as a start to 2015 - guaranteed 3 matches against higher-ranked players, with a chance of winning the tournament even if she loses all 4 singles matches.

She needs to focus on finding a way to beat some of the players ranked above her if she is to progress. For that she needs matches against higher-ranked opponents. In a normal week, she rarely, if ever, gets three outings against higher-ranked girls.

Also think that she should benefit a lot from any coaching tips forthcoming from Andy.