| Injuries Shift Favorites for Australian Open | |
Dateline: 01/14/02
The 2002 Australian Open runs January 14-27 in Melbourne.
Injuries and ailments among several top players should shake things up in an interesting way.
Men:
| Player | Seeding | Ailment | Status |
| Lleyton Hewitt | 1 | recovering from chicken pox | refusing to speak |
| Gustavo Kuerten | 2 | hip | lost in first round |
| Andre Agassi | 3 (defending champ) | wrist | withdrew |
Women:
| Player | Seeding | Ailment | Status |
| Jennifer Capriati | 1 (defending champ) | hip | playing, possibly hurting |
| Martina Hingis | 3 | heat stress and aching legs | playing, possibly hurting |
| Serena Williams | 5 | ankle | withdrew |
| Lindsay Davenport | world #1, but did not enter | knee | did not enter |
| Mary Pierce | unseeded former (1995) champ | abdominals | retired in first round |
Men to watch:
| Player | Seeding | Comments |
| Lleyton Hewitt | 1 | Recovering from chicken pox, Hewitt has mysteriously refused to talk to the media. He has played only one match, an exhibition, as a warmup, and although he defeated Todd Martin, he looked much below form. |
| Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 4 | The 1999 champ and 2000 runner-up is, as usual, fit and ready to play well here. |
| Pete Sampras | 8 | Sampras won the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament over Andre Agassi on January 12. He seems healthy, although he never likes the heat. |
| Roger Federer | 11 | Federer, one of the most promising young talents on the tour, won the Adidas International over Juan Ignacio Chela on January 12. |
| Andy Roddick | 13 | Roddick is the most powerful of the young rising stars. The high bounce on the Australian courts will suit his groundstrokes and accentuate his ultra-high-kicking second serve. |
| Greg Rusedski | 28 | Rusedski won the Heineken Open January 12 over Jerome Golmard. The big, power player should like the high bounces and fairly fast conditions. |
Women to watch:
| Player | Seeding | Comments |
| Jennifer Capriati | 1 | The defending champ won the Hong Kong Ladies Tennis Challenge over Elena Dementieva on January 5. If her hip holds up, she's likely to meet Venus in the final. |
| Venus Williams | 2 | With Davenport and sister Serena out and Capriati probably hurting, the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champ is the favorite. |
| Martina Hingis | 3 | The three-time champ and former world #1 defeated Meghann Shaughnessy for the Adidas International title on January 12. Hingis has been suffering from heat stress, and she lacks the power of her main rivals, but a few key rivals are hurt or absent, so she has a decent chance. |
| Kim Clijsters | 4 | Clijsters is one of the more powerful players left who is unhurt. The 2001 French Open finalist made it to the semis in the Adidas Warmup. |
| Justine Henin | 6 | The 2001 Wimbledon finalist is one of the smaller players on the tour, and she has that expected quickness, but also surprisingly stinging groundstrokes. |
| Amelie Mauresmo | 7 | The 1999 finalist can be brilliant, and this court surface suits her game. |
| Meghann Shaughnessy | 10 | A rising star, Meghann made it through a tough field before losing to Hingis in the final of the Adidas, a major warmup event. |
| Anna Smashnova | unseeded | Anna enters with back-to-back titles in warmup tournaments, the Canberra Women's Classic which ended January 12 and the ASB Bank Classic the previous week. |
How about a prediction or two?
