{"id":181587,"date":"2022-01-03T19:56:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T20:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=181587"},"modified":"2022-01-04T13:59:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T13:59:58","slug":"cloud-remains-over-novak-as-stars-prep-for-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=181587","title":{"rendered":"Cloud remains over Novak as stars prep for Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the \u201cwill he or won\u2019t he?\u201d question remains for No. 1 Novak Djokovic<\/a> and his participation in the Australian Open<\/a>, the rest of the tennis world returns to work this week to prepare for the season\u2019s first major beginning Jan. 17 at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s ATP Cup<\/a> team event has been on since the weekend in Sydney, and there are three tune-up events being played this week in Melbourne as part of Tennis Australia\u2019s \u201cSummer Set\u201d of tournaments \u2014 two WTA tournaments and one ATP.<\/p>\n

The 2022 ATP Cup will be held in Sydney from January 1-9, with live matches, highlights, mini matches and full match replays on Stan Sport. New customers can start their free trial now by visiting:<\/strong><\/em> Stan.com.au\/tennis<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In Adelaide, there is a joint ATP and WTA tournament this week. Next week, both Adelaide and Sydney will hold joint ATP-WTA tournaments.<\/p>\n

Djokovic is still nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n

Australian Open chief executive Craig Tiley says there is \u201cquite a bit to play out\u201d before nine-time champion Djokovic shows up to play in Australia.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ferguson axed by Japanese club after arrest<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie rookie makes astonishing NBA history<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Stokes bites on captaincy as Root faces fire<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The top-ranked player has continually refused to reveal if he is vaccinated against COVID-19, a requirement to play in Melbourne. But there has been speculation Djokovic could apply for a medical exemption to play as he eyes a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam singles title. He is tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20.<\/p>\n

Djokovic withdrew from Serbia\u2019s ATP Cup team last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve still got a few charter flights coming in until the end of this week and then all the players will be here,\u201d Tiley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as the status relates to Novak, I think we\u2019ll have a much clearer picture in the coming days otherwise it\u2019s getting pretty late to show up and play the Australian Open. There\u2019s quite a bit to play out and I think it will play out in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep will headline the WTA tournament in Melbourne this week while Nadal, recovering from COVID-19, is the top seed at the ATP event at Melbourne Park. Also in the ATP tournament is second-seeded Reilly Opelka, Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov.<\/p>\n

\"Stefanos\u00a0Tsitsipas\u00a0vs\u00a0Diego\u00a0Schwartzman\u00a0ATP\u00a0Cup\u00a02022\"<\/p>\n

In Adelaide, top-ranked and Wimbledon champion Ash Barty is the headliner, joined by Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka. Gael Monfils is the No. 1 seed at the Adelaide ATP tournament, while Karen Khachanov is seeded second.<\/p>\n

At the Adelaide WTA event Monday, third-seeded Maria Sakkari beat Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 in the opening round of the 32-draw tournament and Ajla Tomljanovic beat Heather Watson 6-4 7-6 (5).<\/p>\n

Barty, who has a first-round bye, hasn't played a tournament since losing in the third at the US Open in early September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next couple weeks I\u2019ll have to be patient with myself, it has been awhile since I\u2019ve played a competitive match," Barty said Monday. \u201cBut I feel good. I feel ready. Now it\u2019s just about going out there and enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

US Open champion Emma Raducanu withdrew from the Melbourne tournament, having just come out of isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Raducanu, who became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam tournament when she won at Flushing Meadows in September, had pulled out of an Abu Dhabi tournament in late December after contracting the virus.<\/p>\n

Two of the biggest names in tennis won't be playing the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Federer is still recovering from right knee surgery.<\/p>\n

Serena Williams' Grand Slam title drought will officially reach five years after the 23-time major champion announced her withdrawal from the Australian Open last month due to an ongoing hamstring injury. It means she'll miss another chance to tie Margaret Court\u2019s all-time Grand Slam record.<\/p>\n

Williams' 23rd major singles title \u2014 and most recent \u2014 came at the Australian Open in 2017.<\/p>\n

And for the first time since 1997, no Williams sister will be in action at Melbourne Park. Venus Williams, 41, hasn\u2019t played since August because of a leg injury.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the \u201cwill he or won\u2019t he?\u201d question remains for No. 1 Novak Djokovic and his participation in the Australian Open, the rest of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181589,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181587\/revisions\/181589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}