Wannes Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 I love tennis! ;) MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- American Andy Roddick and Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne, the world's top-ranked tennis players, earned the No. 1 seedings Thursday for the season-opening Australian Open.The seedings -- 32 each for men and women -- generally followed the ATP and WTA rankings. An exception was American Venus Williams, the 2003 runner-up to sister Serena, who was seeded third despite a ranking that slipped to 11th at the end of 2003 because of an extended absence due to an abdominal injury. Roddick, who vaulted to the men's top spot after winning the U.S. Open in September, is looking to improve on his semifinal loss here last year. His run was highlighted by back-to-back five-set victories, including a quarterfinal marathon over Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui that featured a Grand Slam record 21-19 fifth set. Defending champion Andre Agassi is seeded fourth. The 33-year-old American beat No. 2 Roger Federer, the reigning Wimbledon champion, on Thursday in a warmup event as he seeks his fifth Australian Open title and ninth Grand Slam crown. He has won in Melbourne three of the last four years, missing out only in 2002 when he was sidelined by a wrist injury. The United States has six men among the 32 seeded players, followed by Spain with five, including No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero. Henin-Hardenne won eight tournaments in 2003, including the French and U.S. Opens. She is seeking her third Grand Slam title against a field depleted by the injury-related withdrawals of former champions Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce. Fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, seeded second, also has been fighting injury problems. She was forced out of the Hopman Cup in Perth last week after injuring her left ankle against Australia's Alicia Molik and withdrew from the adidas International in Sydney on Tuesday. Venus Williams, trying to add the Australian Open title to her two Wimbledon and two U.S. Open crowns, has looked fit during practice. Russians accounted for one-quarter of the seeded players in the women's draw, led by No. 6 Anastasia Myskina and No. 7 Elena Dementieva. Williams heads five Americans, including No. 5 Lindsay Davenport and No. 9 Chanda Rubin, among the top 32 women. Australian Open Seedings MEN SEED WOMEN Andy Roddick, United States 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium Roger Federer, Switzerland 2 Kim Clijsters, Belgium Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain 3 Venus Williams, United States Andre Agassi, United States 4 Amelie Mauresmo, France Guillermo Coria, Argentina 5 Lindsay Davenport, United States Rainer Schuettler, Germany 6 Anastasia Myskina, Russia Carlos Moya, Spain 7 Elena Dementieva, Russia David Nalbandian, Argentina 8 Ai Sugiyama, Japan Sebastien Grosjean, France 9 Chanda Rubin, United States Mark Philippoussis, Australia 10 Nadia Petrova, Russia Tim Henman, Britain 11 Vera Zvonareva, Russia Nicolas Massu, Chile 12 Paola Suarez, Argentina Paradorn Srichaphan, Thailand 13 Conchita Martinez, Spain Jiri Novak, Czech Republic 14 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi, Israel Lleyton Hewitt, Australia 15 Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands 16 Magui Serna, Spain Martin Verkerk, Netherlands 17 Meghann Shaughnessy, U.S. Younes El Aynaoui, Morocco 18 Francesca Schiavone, Italy Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil 19 Eleni Daniilidou, Greece Tommy Robredo, Spain 20 Silvia Farina Elia, Italy Mardy Fish, United States 21 Elena Bovina, Russia Agustin Calleri, Argentina 22 Patty Schnyder, Switzerland Felix Mantilla, Spain 23 Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russia Max Mirnyi, Belarus 24 Madgalena Maleeva, Bulgaria Jonas Bjorkman, Sweden 25 Lisa Raymond, United States Albert Costa, Spain 26 Tina Pisnik, Slovenia Taylor Dent, United States 27 Amanda Coetzer, South Africa Feliciano Lopez, Spain 28 Maria Sharapova, Russia Vincent Spadea, United States 29 Nathalie Dechy, France Arnaud Clement, France 30 Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia Wayne Ferreira, South Africa 31 Tamarine Tanasugarn, Thailand Robby Ginepri, United States 32 Fabiola Zuluaga, Colombia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 Go Andy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wannes Posted January 15, 2004 Author Share Posted January 15, 2004 Do you like him to? I do. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 He's awesome....Very young, and very good. If he keeps his head on straight, he could do really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroChaos Veteran Posted January 15, 2004 Veteran Share Posted January 15, 2004 he's awesome. i started watching andy when he was like 14 or 15 years old. i actually was a ballrunner for his older brother :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wannes Posted January 15, 2004 Author Share Posted January 15, 2004 He's awesome....Very young, and very good. If he keeps his head on straight, he could do really well. Indeed, he just has to be careful now, a lot of tennis players go down once they reached #1. It's because they cannot deal with the fame, pressure and money. I am sure Roddick will get over this but yet he has to be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildliquid Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 is henin going to play, last i heard was she might be out through injury? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wannes Posted January 16, 2004 Author Share Posted January 16, 2004 She did not officialy give up yet so for the moment the answer is going to be yes. I will keep you updated. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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