| | MELBOURNE, Australia -- The leader in the race to be the
men's No. 1 tennis player in 2000 is not Andre Agassi or Pete
Sampras, but 18-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt.
Under the ATP's new ranking system, all players started the year
at zero rather than carrying over points from the past 52 weeks.
Hewitt won his first two tournaments of the year, gaining a
total of 70 points, and came into the Australian Open on a 10-match
winning streak.
Meanwhile, the top four players from 1999's year-end rankings --
Agassi, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Sampras and Thomas Enqvist -- were
playing in an exhibition tournament that awarded no points.
But Hewitt will have to finish at least second in the open to
keep his lead.
Winning a major tournament is worth 200 points. The runner-up
receives 140.
The previous ranking system was considered too difficult for the
fans to understand.
Among other things, the new system dispenses with the awarding
of bonus points for beating players with high rankings.
Ironmen
Wayne Ferreira and Mark Woodforde are playing in
their 37th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, but are far behind
the record of 54 set by retired Swedish player Stefan Edberg.
Both have achieved their best Grand Slam results in Australia --
the 28-year-old Ferreira reached the semifinals in 1992, and
Woodforde went that far in 1996.
Ferreira's highest singles ranking was sixth in 1995, and
Woodforde's was 19th in 1996.
The 34-year-old Woodforde is best known for his doubles triumphs with fellow Australian Todd Woodbridge. With two tournament
victories to start the year, the pair now have 55 doubles
victories, two behind the teams tied for the career lead -- Peter
Fleming and John McEnroe, and Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan.
Tennis on skates
French Open finalist Andrei Medvedev has
likened the Rebound Ace surface at Melbourne Park to ice fields and
says Australian Open organizers have erred by making the courts too
fast.
The Rebound Ace courts were recently repainted with the new Top
Coat 2000 surface, which has increased the speed of the courts.
But the Ukrainian said the pace of the various courts was uneven
and "99.9 percent of the players are complaining," although most
weren't prepared to voice their dissatisfaction.
"Center court is different to court one. Court 20 is different
to Court five. Court 20 is a joke -- it's like playing on ice
fields," he said.
Medvedev said during a practice session he managed "no more
than four shots in a rally."
"These courts are faster than indoors. The balls don't fluff up
and after three games they are like ping pong balls.
"The whole perspective of the Australian Open has changed. With
the courts, you can only play quality tennis for the first three
games with these balls, then it's a rollercoaster."
Change of pace
With elder sister and regular hit-up partner Venus
sidelined with tendinitis, the third-seeded Serena Williams has
resorted to the next best thing to help her practice -- a man.
The U.S. Open champion is using a male hitting partner in the
absence of Venus and the big-hitting 17-year-old says it's taking
some readjusting.
"It might be hard to train with someone else, but I have this
guy who I'm hitting with who is really good -- and is actually too
good," she said.
"I was really upset when I was hitting this morning because no
matter what I did, he just kept hitting winners off me."
Serena is the only woman among the top contenders to head
directly to Melbourne Park without first playing a practice
tournament in Australia.
Although after her first practice session, she said the faster
pace of the courts would be to her advantage.
"I definitely think the pace of the court here will suit my
game because I will just hit a little harder," she said. | |
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