Tennis bits: ‘It was horrible’ watching grand slam field open up, says returning Juan Martin del Potro

ATP Sydney

Watching tennis on television has been an all too regular way of passing time for Juan Martin del Potro and it does not get any easier for the injury-prone Argentine.

The giant from Tandil is preparing for yet another comeback in Sydney next week at the Apia Sydney International having spent nearly a year on the sidelines with a serious left wrist injury.

It was the right wrist that required surgery in 2010, six months after he won the US Open, and fans of the 26-year-old, and there are many, believe he would have already added to his one grand slam title were it not for injuries.

Olympic bronze medallist Del Potro is just happy to be playing again, even if he is having to grimace through the pain.

“It was horrible to watch all the tournaments on TV and see how open it was in the grand slams,” he said in an interview on the website of the ATP. “It’s good for tennis but it was sad for me because I was ready and prepared.

“All of that is in the past for me now. I am positive now. I know I need to be calm and to be patient, to stay healthy and play as well as I can. It will be a long road to get in good shape and to get to my level.”

Smouldering groundstrokes and a beefy serve are Del Potro’s big weapons and the worry is, with his wrist still causing discomfort, his shots will have lost some of their power.

“(The wrist) hurts a little bit,” he said. “It bothers me sometimes when I hit backhands but I am trying to hit harder because I need to hit harder if I want to play this tournament. Sometimes the pain is high, sometimes it is low.

“It’s much better than (it was) three or four weeks ago and the doctor says that I can’t make it worse by playing at a high level, so I am very positive for that.

“I need to do a lot of treatment every day. I do a long warmup before practice and matches, which takes a lot of time. That is my life at the moment.

“It will be a big challenge to play this tournament and see if I can start the season healthy and play for the whole year.”

Former world No 4 Del Potro’s wrist will get its first test against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.

In opening round action in Sydney on Monday, Pablo Cuevas defeated Nicolas Almagro, Leonardo Mayer beat Benjamin Becker and, later, Marinko Matosevic will face off with Simone Bolleli.

Kooyong Classic

Japan’s Kei Nishikori will hope to use the Kooyong Classic starting Tuesday as final preparation for a run at a possible first grand slam title at the Australian Open.

The Asian ace, who has worked himself up to a record-setting fifth in the world rankings, claimed the Kooyong trophy a year ago over Tomas Berdych.

Nishikori is now a serious threat in every event he enters thanks in large part to a breakthrough 2014 season, sparked by his Kooyong win, in which he reached the US Open final against Marin Cilic.

“Winning might take some time, you need some luck too when you play,” he said in the run-up to Kooyong. “Hopefully it comes and one day I win a grand slam.

“That’s my dream, so hopefully I can do it in a few years.”

Nishikori takes confidence from last week at Brisbane, where he beat American Steve Johnson and Australian Bernard Tomic before falling to eventual finalist Milos Raonic.

The event, whose past champions include Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, guarantees players three warm-up matches under identical conditions and surface as they will find at the Australian Open, which begins next week.

ATP Auckland

The Auckland Open began on Monday with Adrian Mannarino defeating Federico Delbonis of Argentina in a 6-1, 6-1 hammering.

World No 44 Mannarino of France advances to meet third-seeed Roberto Bautista-Agut, one of the victims of giant-killing qualifier Aljaz Bedene in Chennai last week. Bedene lost the open in that tournament to Stan Wawrinka on Sunday.

Things will continue in Auckland on Monday with highly-touted world No 39 Dominic Thiem of Austria, 21, facing Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.

American Steve Johnson also faces Portuguese Joao Sousa.

WTA Hobart

A packed day of Hobart International first round play neared conclusion on Monday, as second-seeded Zarina Diyas cruised while third-seeded Camila Giorgi overcame a stiff challenge.

World No 32 Diyas of Kazakhstan eased by Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-3, 6-4, while Italian Giorgi, the world No 33, dropped the first set to world No 365 Storm Sanders and needed a tiebreak third set win to 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6).

Seeds Alison Riske (8) and Roberta Vinci (9) also advanced.

British hopeful Heather Watson continued a strong start to the season as well, comfortably beating world No 48 Magdalena Rybarikova 7-5, 6-1.

WTA Sydney

Spanish rising star Garbine Muguruza defeated world No 14 Sara Errani, who continued a frustrating start to the season at the Apia Sydney International tournament.

World No 20 Muguruza, 21, dominated the Italian 6-0, 7-5. It was the second straight first-round exit in Australian Open warmup tournaments for Errani, after she fell to Daniela Hantuchova in the first round of the Auckland Classic last week.

Muguruza will next faces either Agniezska Radwanska or Alize Cornet in the impressive Sydney tournament that includes a field with world No 3 Simona Halep and Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova.

In other first-round action of note, world No 21 and local hopeful Sam Stosur edged out world No 15 Lucie Safarova in a tight 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 6-3 victory. Caroline Wozniacki also retired from her match against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova after losing the first set 4-6.

Other winners in Sydney on Monday included world No 10 Ekaterina Makarova, world No 17 Carla Suarez Navarro, Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova and Chinese No 1 Peng Shuai.

World No 12 Flavia Pennetta was upset by Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), as she continues a rough start to her season with compatriot Errani after losing all three of her singles matches at the Hopman Cup last week.

World No 13 Andrea Petkovic also fell, 1-6 , 6-7 (5/7) against world No 70 Jarmila Gajdosova.

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