PERTH, Australia, 28 December 2004 — Saturday’s start of the Hopman Cup mixed teams events has been hit by a high-profile injury pullout as world number 1 Lindsay Davenport sent her regrets, officials confirmed yesterday.
Davenport reported to organizer Paul McNamee that she injured her knee in an exhibition in the U.S. last week. Her place alongside James Blake will be taken by Meghann Shaughnessy in the international competition which begins the 2005 season.
While players often complain of an overly long season, many of the big names fill their off weeks with quick-buck exhibition paydays.
Davenport’s injury could not have some at a worse time for a veteran who only months ago was considering retirement.
The 28-year-old and Blake — recovering as well after injury and illness in 2004 — made history last January in Perth as they helped the U.S. to became the first nation to win back-to-back titles. The pair assured the holders of a third trophy at the Burswood Dome, following up on 1997 and 2003 wins as they earned a 2-1 victory over Slovakia.
With the absence of Davenport, the Russian pairing of French Open champion Anastasia Myskina and former U.S. Open winner Marat Safin move into the showcase spotlight at the eight-nation tournament.
Russian women, who currently hold three of the four Grand Slam titles, have dominated during 2004; Safin, a former world number 1, currently finished the year fourth after starting at nearly 80. The event’s round-robin format features men’s and women’s singles with a concluding mixed doubles tie.
The Davenport debacle is the second setback for the event in recent weeks.France was forced to withdraw as teenaged Tatiana Golovin inadvertently entered a WTA event in Australia during the Hompan week, forcing the side to be replaced by Zimbabwe, which will contest a playoff spot Saturday against the Netherlands for the eighth spot in the field.
Meantime, it didn’t take more than a few months for the “retirement” plans of evergreen Martina Navratilova to be forgotten.
The unpredictable 48-year-old is now due back on the doubles court starting next Monday as the WTA season begins in tropical Queensland with a $ 170,000 event on the Gold Coast resort stretch.
Navratilova has entered alongside Nathalie Dechy for the season opener.
Teams:
Russia (Anastasia Myskina, Marat Safin),U.S. (Meghann Shaughnessy, James Blake), Slovakia (Daniela Hantuchova, Dominik Hrbaty),Argentina (Gisela Dulko, Guillermo Coria),Germany (Anna-Lena Groenfeld, Tommy Haas)
Australia (Alicia Molik, Mark Philippoussis), Italy (Francesca Sciavone, Davide Sanguinetti).Playoff between:Zimbawbwe (Cara Black, Wayne Black), Netherlands (Michaela Krajicek, Richard Wessels)
She had hinted at September’s U.S. Open that she was finally done with the game - but left the door ajar for a return.
The holder of 58 Grand Slam titles may have to rely heavily on her French partner, the 2003 singles champion.
Navratilova, whose returns to the game have become as regular as the changing seasons, has fond memories of the Aussie venue where she lifted the doubles crowd two years ago alongside a young newcomer, Svetlana Kuznetsova, now the reigning U.S. Open champion.
The 2003 visit to Australia was Navratilova’s first in 14 years and she hasn’t slowed down since, with doubles appearances at Grand Slams at a age when everyone else from her generation is long retired.
Navratilova and the then-17-year-old Kuznetsova from Russia won five doubles titles in 2003 before splitting.
Navratilova currently owns a record-setting 167 singles trophies and 174 in doubles, the last in Vienna this year with American Lisa Raymond.
The veteran, who came out of retirement in singles at the French Open and Wimbledon, had been planning to start closing down a 30- year-career with participation at the Athens Olympics.
But that farewell came and went, with Navratilova playing at the U.S. Open a few weeks later.
The singles field features Russian-French teenager Tatiana Golovin, who inadvertently also entered the concurrent Hopman Cup teams event in Perth the same week and chose to play on the WTA side.
