By Sean Bradley
© AP Photo
The Hopman Cup has been creating some serious news over the weekend – with former number 1, Justine Henin, and Lleyton Hewitt taking wins, Andy Murray winning his singles match, John Isner beating Nicolas Mahut for the first time since their epic 11-hour long match at Wimbledon last year (this one taking about one-seventh as long), and Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic teaming up to win Serbia’s opening match against the Kazakh team.
played Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-4 in the Australian’s first match since she injured her elbow at Wilmbledon in June. Henin has 7 Slams under her belt and spent 117 weeks in the number 1 position. Of her elbow, Henin says, ““I can’t play 100 percent free of pain but it’s getting better. A few weeks ago I really didn’t know if I was going to be able to come here to Australia. It’s been a lot of hard rehabilitation on my elbow.”
Lleyton Hewitt also played, beating Ruben Bemelmans 6-4, 6-3 in his first singles match since injuring his hand last September. The two injured stars played one another in an Australia-Belgium showdown, Hewitt and Molik beating Henin and Bemelmans 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(8) for the tournament’s Group A standing.
Andy Murray beat Potito Strace 7-5, 6-1, but his 16-year 210-ranked old British partner Laura Robson lost to the 7th-ranked Italian Francesca Schiavone and the British duo losing the mixed-doubles match, leaving Britain with a 2-1 score. Murray has been training hard – practicing sprints and general cardio , while taking it easier on the weights - and looks ready to show his strength, but said, “I was breathing so hard after the first, four or five games. I only arrived on Saturday afternoon so there's not been a whole lot of time to get over jet-lag yet. It's going to take some time to get used to the conditions.”
After playing 183 games in the longest recorded tennis match in history, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played a considerably shorter 90-minute game, with Isner once again coming out the victor, 6-3, 7-6(5). Mahut and Isner share a special connection, Isner saying, “I got on top of him early in the first set, he picked up his game in the second, but I stayed the course with mine. I didn’t get to break, but fortunately for me I came up with my best serves. It’s always an honor to share the court with him.” American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Kristina Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 and the American team won in mixed-doubles 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8).
On Sunday, Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic helped give Serbia a 3-0 over Kazakhstan – Ivanovic defeating Yaroslava Shedova 7-6(6), 6-1 and Djokovic beating Andrey Golubev 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The two teamed up to sweep the Kazakhs 7-6(2), 6-4. Djokovic was in high spirits, saying, “You don’t get many events throughout the year where you can really have fun and enjoy tennis. This is the event where I could just bring some laughs and a couple of jokes here and there during the match.”
Stay tuned for more updates on the Hopman Cup standings.