Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley revealed that they are looking forward to the much-anticipated return of Spain’s Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open 2014 tournament. Nadal, currently ranked number two in the world, miss the 2013 edition of the tournament due to health reasons.
“Rafa has had an incredibly successful year and has to be a major contender to win the Australian Open for the second time,” Tiley said. “It will be tough to get past defending champion Novak Djokovic, always very at home on Rod Laver Arena, and three-time finalist Andy Murray, coming back from injury. And I will never underestimate the formidable talent of Roger Federer.”
Nadal has a stellar 2013 season so far with two Grand Slam titles under his name – the French Open and the US Open. The Spaniard won a total of 10 titles including five ATP Masters 1000 events.
“David Ferrer is itching for a breakthrough major win, along with fan favourite and Australian Open finalist [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga, and the likes of [Juan Martin] del Potro, [Stanislas] Wawrinka and [Tomas] Berdych. The next generation of emerging talents such as Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov and Bernard Tomic is also knocking on the door.
“With two majors this year Serena Williams looks pretty invincible. [Maria] Sharapova will be on the come-back trail and defending champion [Victoria] Azarenka always plays well in Melbourne. Li Na is a hit with the Aussie crowds, and you can’t discount top players like Aga Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Sam Stosur,” Tiley said.
The tickets for the Australian Open 2014 are currently on sale.
