The Hopman Cup today announced that Francesca Schiavone will partner Potito Starace for Italy at January’s ITF International Mixed Teams Championship in Perth and Alicia Molik will partner Lleyton Hewitt for Australia. Schiavone becomes the sixth Grand Slam Champion coming to Perth this year joining Serena Williams, Lleyton Hewitt, Justine Henin, Novak Djokovic, and Ana Ivanovic.
Paul McNamee, said, “Francesca has been pre-eminent in the renaissance of Italian tennis – their success in Fed Cup speaks for itself, and may well spill over to the Hopman Cup. It’s also great to be able to welcome Alicia back. She’s done such a great job in her comeback so far”. Schiavone said, “I’m delighted to be coming back to Perth. This has been an amazing year for me, and I look forward to starting the New Year well with Potito”.
The teams announced to date are:
■USA – Serena Williams and John Isner.
■Belgium – Justine Henin and Steve Darcis.
■Serbia – Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic.
■France – Kristina Mladenovic and Gael Monfils.
■Kazakhstan – Yaroslava Shvedova and Andrey Golubev.
■Italy – Francesca Schiavone and Potito Starace.
■Australia – Alicia Molik and Lleyton Hewitt.
One further team will complete the eight nation field. Alicia Molik returns to the Burswood Centre Court for the first time having moved to Western Australia after her retirement in 2008. She returned to the international tennis scene in 2009 after recovering from a series of injuries with a successful run through the Australian Pro-Tour, which got her back inside the top 200. Further success on the WTA Tour has seen her ranking rise inside the top 100 (currently 95) and she was a member of Australia’s Fed Cup team this year. Alicia will partner Lleyton Hewitt.
Hyundai Hopman Cup XXIII runs from 1-8 January 2011 at Perth’s Burswood Dome. Series Tickets are on sale via Ticketek and Corporate Tickets are also now available (hopmancup.com).