Australian Open 2008

[PKBasu]

The Australian Open, the year's first Slam, is less than a month away. Sania Mirza could be seeded in singles, and possibly also in Doubles and Mixed Doubles (she is ranked #20 in women's doubles). Sunitha Rao and the Uberoi sisters will be attempting to get into the qualifying draw, and possibly also Isha Lakhani.

Rohan Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj and (possibly) Harsh Mankad will be in the men's singles qualifiers, and Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi will be among the favourites in the qualifying draw. The qualifying cut is around 280, so Rohan and Prakash will almost certainly make it in. With his injury-protected ranking, Harsh has a slim outside chance of making it into the qualifying draw. Karan Rastogi (assuming he wins the national grasscourts, gets the Chennai wildcard and wins a round) could also possibly squeeze into the qualifying draw, as could Sunil Kumar Sipaeya if he wins this week in Nigeria and then manages to qualify into Chennai. 

In men's doubles, Leander Paes and Paul Hanley will be contenders, as will Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles. If they get into the main draw, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi will be very dangerous floaters who could go very deep.

[sameerph]

Both Rohan & Prakash have made it into the qualifying draw in the initial list itself. ( The initial cut itself is quite low this time at 286.) The way the cut normally drops at Australian open, Harsh & even Karan may have outside chance of making in to qualies . Only problem they would be not able to plan their trip not knowing if they would be able to make it in the end.

I don't think Shikha or Isha or Sunil has any chance of making the cut. Sunitha should be in for the qualifying draw. Neha also has a good chance of making it. 

In boys singles, Yuki is 8th among direct acceptances. So, he should be a high seed & Poojashree is also in girls singles draw. Couple of other Indians , Karunuday Singh among boys & Janki Ganuganti among girls are in the qualifying list.

[jaydeep]

As per TOI report, Sania will be playing doubles with Meghann Shaughnessy of USA.

[sameerph]

Meghann Shaughnessy is injured & has withdrawn . Sania will now team up with Alicia Molik of Australia. Molik is even better doubles player being ranked 12 .

[amr090]

Wow yeah that's pretty good Molik, is a former top 10 player trying to come back from injury...I hope Sania herself can stay healthy...

[PKBasu]

Interesting that she seems to be focusing only on the Hopman Cup opponents  ! Even more surprising that Molik didn't have a partner until this point despite her high ranking...

[BSharma]

Interesting that she seems to be focusing only on the Hopman Cup opponents  !

Perhaps it is easier to discuss face-to-face rather than getting on a cell phone and talking with potential doubles partners. 

[jaydeep]

Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) is criticising the Australian Open organisers for not keeping their word ... It started due to breakdown of an arrangement where under-14 players from Asia spent four weeks a year in Australia, something which is said to have happened for only two years and also lack of funds for the Asian events in the Australian Open 14 Series, a linked sequence of tournaments leading up to the Grand Slam.

Asian official slams Australian Open

[sameerph]

Interesting that she seems to be focusing only on the Hopman Cup opponents  ! Even more surprising that Molik didn't have a partner until this point despite her high ranking...

In fact Molik's regular doubles partner Mara Santagelo ( with whom she won French Open 2007) whithdrew from AO due to injury.

So, both must be looking for a doubles partner & bumped into each other at Hopman cup. 

[gvhvhg]

might a Sania-Rohan partnership make the Mixed Doubles draw? If so I think that'd be awesome--theyve beaten some good teams in Perth.

[PKBasu]

Rohan and Prakash are comfortably in the qualifying draw. Harsh is still 12 out, but of those 12 three are Australians (and sure to get wild-cards), which means he is 9 out. But there is hardly any more time left; the draw will be made about 24 hours from now, and the action begins on Wednesday morning.

[S_K_S]

All Indian players should boycott the event in protest at the treatment of Bhajji. (And no I am not kidding, I am deadly serious.)

[amr090]

All Indian players should boycott the event in protest at the treatment of Bhajji. (And no I am not kidding, I am deadly serious.)

sorry sks, but i think that would be pretty stupid....as it is our players rarely even make it into qualifiers for slams....and you want them to boycott one of the few times they do?  do you really think australia, or tennis australia will give a crap if india's #300 ranked players skip the qualies?? your point could make sense if roger federer was from india...then someone may take notice if he skipped...but it makes no sense for our players to do so and lose out at the chance of making what little money they can....

[S_K_S]

Every player is out there with IND after their name. Some issues, such as national pride, are more important. I am not just talking about people playing qualifying, I am talking about Sania, Leander et all.

[BSharma]

I could not find an appropriate thread to put this post, but felt that a tennis thread would be most appropriate one.  Is Jay ok?  He is absent from this forum for more than a day and even if he had gone to the South Pole, he would find some Internet connection to post his thoughts or words of wisdom.