I know this is just an exhibition event, but it has a lot of top players in it so probably warrants a bit of comment ;)

The field is as follows:

Federer
Nalbandian
Roddick
Ljubicic
Safin :wub:
Haas
Mr Hingis (Stepanek)
Murray

Each of the eight participants plays three matches over the four days in a promotion/relegation type format.

The draw will be made on Tuesday with play starting on Wednesday!

Am I right in saying Federer has never won?
or is it Federer has always lost when he has gone on to win the Australian Open?

Anyway it is a good entry list and hopefully a great warmup.

Federer won in 2005, which was the year that Safin won the Aus Open. Last year, Roddick won it....

how dare you? :shakesfist:

Is there any seeding during it at all, so the top 4 seeds play the bottom 4???

Murray would be seeded 7 if so....

oh, ok, well we could always call her Mr Stepanek couldn't we???? :devil:

I'm not sure about seeding. The draw should be made within the next day or so. This is the website for anyone who is interested:

Kooyong Classic

nope, we call her Hingis, and him moron B)

Surely, bliv, as she is the mighty Hingis you have to think that she has good taste in men, therefore surely you can't call him a moron! there must be something she likes about him - she's probably not after his money...... roflmao

apparently she's known him since they were kids, and she's been really good friends with him for ages

kind of strange, she goes with people like Sergio Garcia, and a good-looking ice hockey player, and then Stepanek roflmao

there's more to life than looks though bliv!!! obviously Martina has discovered that.......

she hasn't met me yet :wub:

we'd have to be a tom cruise-style couple though, as she's taller than me roflmao

yeah, i'm sure she'll fall desperately in love with you bliv. maybe she goes for younger guys..... roflmao

roflmao

nope older men, but i get the feeling she'd sleep with any man

maybe she should get with safin :devil:

oi!! that's not funny :angry:

The draw has been announced!

Kooyong Draw

Safin vs. Nalby

Murray with a chance to avenge his to defeat to Ljubicic.

So the draw is out

Fed vs Hingis ( :P ) Fed should get through this comfortably...Fed leads H2H 2-1 and the time Stepanek beat him was in 2002

Roddick vs Haas-Although Haas leads H2H 5-3, 3 of those victories were before Roddick had really made his mark. I expect Andy to win considering he is generally a bettere player but it could be close...

Safin-NAlbandian-H2H 6-3 in MArat's favour but Nalby has won the teo most recent match ups, could be close but i really dont care as I can't stand either of these two :rolleyes:

Murray vs Ljubicic- Ljubo leads 2-1 but if Murray has recovered from his cold which hindered him throughout last week he has a great chance, Ivan still the favourite tho...

:ban:

(I can't stand Nalby either, but watch what you say about Marat :angry: :whip: ;)2 )

Hear, hear! :D

tw I like your sig pic. Not bad. :D

thank you :D

I'm hoping Safin can kick some serious Nalby butt!!!! :angry:

This should be an interesting tournie, in terms of seeing how some of the other top players are doing before the Aussie Open.

OK. So I'm not overly familiar with the format of this event. I know it's an exhibition and every player will play 3 matches, but is it similar to Masters cup, ie two groups of 4? Can we predict what the second batch of matches will be or will that be decided randomly, ie, if Murray beats Lubo does he play the winner of the Safin - Fatman match etc?

From the way the draw looks, and the fact that there are only three matches per player, I'm conjecturing that it will be played like a regular tournament, except that people who lose will still play more matches (against people who have also lost). That is, the four people who won will go into a 'semifinal' round. Let's assume it's the four seeds, then we would have semifinals

Fed - Nalby

and

Roddick - Ljubicic.

The two winners of these matches will fight it out for the title, while the two losers will also play a match (for third place, I suppose). The group of four players who lost will similarly play in a group of their own.

I repeat that this is just conjecture.

By the way, there are some interesting interviews on the website:

http://www.aamiclassic.com.au/files/Media%...0Jan%202007.txt

MJT is right, that's the format for the tourney :ok:

Did anybody else just see the match between Federer and Stepanek? Fed looked flat and tired and bored. It almost looked like he went down a couple of games to give himself the challenge of breaking back and winning the sets. His rhythm was gone and he was in trouble until Stepanek choked in the third set breaker.
Any ideas on what was wrong with him? It's pretty disrespectful to the fans if he treats it like a practice session that he doesn't want to be at (which was the way it looked). He is using a new racquet. Does anybody know if it has changed or whether it is basically a painted-up NCode as before? Maybe that played a part - lack of confidence because of the change in equipment? :shrug:

:ban:

Thank you Federer :D :hug:

Murray beats Ljubo 4 and 2, a fantastic result. :D

Here's the results from day 1:

Andy Roddick def Tommy Haas 6/2 6/3
Roger Federer def Radek Stepanek 7/6(2) 6/7(4) 7/6(5)
Marat Safin def David Nalbandian 5/7 6/1 6/2
Andy Murray def Ivan Ljubicic 6/4 6/2

Not the most convincing win for Federer by the looks of it. Be interesting to see how the rest of his matches go and if he's just taking some time to warm-up!!! Also good wins for Murray and Safin ( :wub: ) there. Hopefully that'll give both of them a bit of confidence!

I'm just looking at the order of play for tommorrow - someone want to explain what Gonzalez is doing playing??? :wacko:

Tommy HAAS (GER) v Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO)

Roger FEDERER (SUI) v Marat SAFIN (RUS)

Radek STEPANEK (CZE) v Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI)

Yeah just saw that myself...SCHEDULE OF PLAY

Tommy HAAS (GER) v Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO)

followed by

Roger FEDERER (SUI) v Marat SAFIN (RUS)

followed by

Radek STEPANEK (CZE) v Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI)


Does this mean Roddick is playing Murray? And where is Nalbandian? Strange!

why don't murray and nalbandian play?

It looks like Nalby may have pulled out. I have no evidence of that whatsoever, it's just the way it looks from the draw. It should be Murray playing Roddick as well I think :wacko: Maybe they so something odd with the scheduling to make sure everyone gets a day off???

Can i just say, i've finally woken up and realised that Safin is going to play Federer! I'd actually like Safin to win this one, because it would give him some confidence and also 'cos it doesn't matter if Fed loses that match! Based on Fed's performance yesterday, i'd say Safin may even have a chance!

I hope that gonzalez guy wins :pray:

me too, but probably not for the same reasons as you!!!

:lol:

I won't be happy till he's out of the top one million :devil:

Apparently Nalby withdrew with a knee injury.

BBC Report

Nalbandian pulled out and Gonzalez replaced him :ok:

Today's results for Kooyong:

Ivan Ljubicic def Tommy Haas 7/6(5) 6/4
Roger Federer def Marat Safin 6/3 7/6(2)
Radek Stepanek def Fernando Gonzalez 6/4 7/6(4)

Ooooh, the matches for Kooyong tomorrow are interesting. Murray gets to play Safin, and it's a Roddick vs. Federer re-match!