TENNIS
Julia Beffon Organisers of the Australian Open are keeping their fingers crossed that illness and injury will not further deplete the field for the tournament that begins in Melbourne on Monday. Women’s world number one Lindsay Davenport withdrew from the year’s first grand slam this week because of a knee injury. The American damaged cartilage in her right knee during the season-ending Sanex Championships in November and the injury might require surgery. Men’s number one Lleyton Hewitt will not play any warm-up matches for the event, having been laid low by chickenpox. Besides the danger of losing their national hero and top seed, organisers are also worried that Hewitt might have inadvertently spread the highly contagious disease to other players, officials and ball boys. The 20-year-old first broke out in spots while playing in the Hopman Cup in Perth over New Year, and with the incubation period for the disease being about 14 days it is possible that people who came into contact with him at that time might have contracted the virus and begin to show symptoms just as the Australian Open begins. Hewitt’s girlfriend, the women’s fourth seed Kim Clijsters, is unlikely to be affected as she has already suffered from chickenpox. But his opponent at the time he started to feel ill, Mariano Zabaleta, and other players he came into contact with at the time including Monica Seles, Roger Federer and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario are at risk. Davenport has been replaced as top seed by Jennifer Capriati, the defending champion. Martina Hingis this week played her first competitive match since ankle surgery in October.
Men’s seeds: 1 L Hewitt (Aus), 2 G Kuerten (Bra), 3 A Agassi (US), 4 Y Kafelnikov (Rus), 5 S Grosjean (Fra), 6 T Henman (UK), 7 T Haas (Ger), 8 P Sampras (US), 9 M Safin (Rus), 10 G Ivanisevic (Cro), 11 R Federer (Swi), 12 G Canas (Arg), 13 A Roddick (US), 14 A Corretja (Spa), 15 A Clement (Fra), 16 T Johansson (Swe), 17 C Moya (Spa), 18 A Portas (Spa), 19 JM Gambill (US), 20 F Santoro (Fra), 21 Y El Aynaoui (Mor), 22 H Arazi (Mor), 23 N Lapentti (Ecu), 24 T Enqvist (Swe), 25 A Pavel (Rom), 26 J Novak (Cze), 27 S Schalken (Neth), 28 G Rusedski (UK), 29 X Malisse (Bel), 30 N Escude (Fra), 31 A Vinciguerra (Swe), 32 T Robredo (Spa)Women’s seeds: 1 J Capriati (US), 2 V Williams (US), 3 M Hingis (Swi), 4 K Clijsters (Bel), 5 S Williams (US), 6 J Henin (Bel), 7 A Mauresmo (Fra), 8 M Seles (US), 9 S Testud (Fra), 10 M Shaughnessy (US), 11 S Farina Elia (Ita), 12 E Dementieva (Rus), 13 M Maleeva (Bul), 14 A Sanchez-Vicario (Spa), 15 A Coetzer (SA), 16 I Tulyaganova (Uzb), 17 B Schett (Aut), 18 L Raymond (US), 19 A Montolio (Spa), 20 R Grande (Ita), 21 D Bedanova (Cze), 22 H Nagyova (Svk), 23 M Serna (Spa), 24 A Sugiyama (Jpn), 25 N Petrova (Rus), 26 T Tanasugarn (Tha), 27 C Torrens-Valero (Spa), 28 P Suarez (Arg), 29 A Kremer (Lux), 30 T Panova (Rus), 31 E Likhovtseva (Rus), 32 F Schiavone (Ita)