Kvitova, Berdych, Bartoli, Verdasco, Fish, Mattek-Sands, Li Na, Gajdosova, Hewitt and more top players are booked to play at the Hopman Cup, which was held at the Burwood Dome in Perth from 31 Dec 2011 to 7 January 2012.

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Note: This article was written in December 2011, to view the line up for the 2013 Hopman Cup please read this article.

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Check out the winner Prize Money and pics of the Diamond Encrusted Tennis Balls.

The Hopman Cup is named after Harry Hopman, who was, to quote the Hopman Cup website

…one of Australia’s greatest tennis players and coaches … some would say the best sporting coach the nation has ever had.

 

His record speaks for itself …non-playing Davis Cup captain from 1938 to 1969, guiding various rising young stars to 15 Davis Cup victories in 21 Challenge rounds.

It’s a fab tournament with “a special something” because men and women tennis players form a team to play for their country.

The 2012 line up is sensational.

The teams are:

No.1 Seeds – Czech Republic

Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych

No.2 Seeds – France

Marion Bartoli and Nicholas Mahut

No.3 Seeds – Spain

Anabel Medina Garrigues and Fernando Verdasco

No.4 Seeds – USA

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mardy Fish

Australia

Jarmila Gajdosova and Lleyton Hewitt

China

Li Na and Wu Di

The USA team of John Isner and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the 2011 tournament. Here’s a pic of the diamond encrusted tennis balls that make up part of the winners haul.

Diamond Encrusted Tennis Balls

Check out the schedule of play and find out more about the event on the Hopman Cup website.

Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the mixed teams and the calibre of players, or maybe because it’s the start of the Australian tennis season; whatever the reason, this tournament is always a joy to watch.

Who can forget this magic moment from 2011?

Mahut’s Keen Dress Sense

Find out more about this tourney in my article from last year “5 Things That Make the Hopman Cup Ace”.

BallBay2012 and I will be attending the Hopman Cup 2012 to kick off my grand slam year, so there’ll be more articles to come once things heat up at the Burswood Dome.

Until next time

Grand Slam Gal

Photos sourced from the Hopman Cup website at www.hopmancup.com.au