Tennis-X Previews, Notes: Coria, Gaudio Look for Former Glory
Posted on January 27, 2008
Coria, Gaudio Oddities This Week at ATP Vina del Mar
Guillermo Coria, who finished in the Top 10 for three consecutive years between 2003-05, ends a 17-month ATP-level absence this week at the Movistar Open in Vina del Mar, Chile.
Coria had three consecutive Top 10 finishes in 2003-2005, but last played at ATP level in August 2006. Coria's career has been in shambles since he rushed back from shoulder surgery, and returns with a protected ranking of No. 105, which he may use for nine months or eight tournaments.
Vina del Mar kicks off the four-tournament South American claycourt circuit, which also features events in Costa Do Sauipe, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Acapulco, Mexico.
Top-seeded in Vina del Mar is homecountry favorite Fernando Gonzalez, followed by seeds Juan Ignacio Chela, Juan Monaco, Fernando Verdasco, Agustin Calleri, Oscar Hernandez, Jose Acasuso and Chilean Nicolas Massu.
Another troubled former Top 5er, Gaston Gaudio, was awarded a wildcard after losing first round in his last event at the Challenger level.
Luis Horna, unseeded this year, captured the title last year as the No. 5 seed, beating the No. 3-seeded Massu in straight sets.
Fed Cup First Round This Weekend
No WTA Tour events this week as the first round of the Fed Cup kicks off Feb. 2-3.
Eight countries compete in the World Group, with Russia at Israel, Germany at USA, France at China, and Spain at Italy.
Russia is the defending champion, failing to lose a match in last year's championship against surprise finalist Italy.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Former world No. 5 and French Open winner Gaston Gaudio played a Challenger tournament in Miami during the first week of the Australian Open, losing in the first round. Unable to climb back into the Top 150, the Argentine says he is on the verge of hanging it up. "I am playing badly, that it is the main thing," the 29-year-old Gaudio told La Red radio network. "I am not in the mood to compete. I have been playing like this for a year and now I don't know if I want to keep battling to get results. My level of play has been poor and the truth is that mentally, I don't want any more of this. After 20 years of playing tennis, I do not have the strength that I used to have. Things in my life aren't going well and I am in a difficult situation. I am going to play in Buenos Aires to try to have some fun as I am going through a difficult time. I am not playing for fun any more and I have suffered a lot because of that. I trained harder than ever during the pre-season to see if I could change my fortunes. I am going to play at Vina del Mar and Buenos Aires and then I will see what happens. If I start to enjoy playing again and I do well, perhaps I will carry on."...
ESPN commentator Pam Shriver during the all-stunner Ana Ivanovic vs. Daniela Hantuchova Australian Open semifinal match, on Ivanovic's squeaky-shoed shuffling during Hantuchova's serve: "I don't put gamesmanship past any player; and I don't trust cutie-pies either."...
Serb Ana Ivanovic will debut at No. 2 on the WTA Tour Rankings on Monday...
The first week's Friday night/Saturday morning (EST) Australian Open ESPN broadcast, including the Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis match, was 14 hours, 43 minutes of live tennis, marking the longest live sports telecast in U.S. history...
Israel's Shahar Peer and the doubles tandem of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram plan on attempting to improve Arab-Israeli relations by playing in tournaments in Dubai in February and March. Peer plans to compete in the Feb. 18-24 Qatar Open, which would make her the first Israeli to play a tour event in the Gulf region, and Erlich and Ram plan on playing in the men's event in Dubai on March 3-8. "That's one of our plans," Ram said. "We talked about it. We didn't decide 100 percent yet. But definitely it's something new we want to do. I believe it's going to be safe for us. The ATP will do all they can do to provide us the right security."...
The WTA Tour says it will not punish or fine Yuri Sharapov for his throat-slitting motion during his daughter Maria's victory over world No. 1 Justine Henin at the Australian Open. WTA chief executive Larry Scott says the gesture was an "innocent joke" between father and daughter. At last year's Australian Open the two exchanged other gestures, with Sharapov fined $2550 after being found guilty of receiving illegal coaching signals from her father...
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