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Well as the new tennis season for 2003 begins, Conchita Martinez begins her tournament schedule at the Adidas International, Sydney. She had originally committed to play in Auckland last week but unfortunately had to withdraw due to a mysterious illness. Nonetheless, if she performs this week like she has the past three months, then she has a real chance to maintain a solid semi-final or even final appearance where she could take home the trophy for her 33^rd title.

However, on the way, she has a tough few opponents who could play extremely well and ultimately defeat her. In the draw, she is situated in the top quarter, where the number 1 seed of Jennifer Capriati is placed, along with number 5^th seed Anastasia Myskina. Many people would consider this quarter as being very difficult bearing in mind that there are 2 top 15 players situated there, including the world number 3. However, Capriati seems to be no threat at all for Conchita in Sydney as she is usually rough in match practise as the new season begins and this became clearly evident when she crashed out in this same tournament last year in the second round to Wimbledon Semi-Finalist in 1999, Alexandra Stevenson. In addition, Conchita beat Capriati in Switzerland, a tier 1 tournament, 6-0 6-3, before losing to eventual champion and home crowd favourite, Patty Schnyder.

Nonetheless, if Conchita does win successive matches, she will have to play Capriati in the Quarterfinals which will definitely make for an interesting match!

First up, Conchita will have to play a qualifier, which will be determined very soon. The following players are possible opponents:

Both of these players had solid final qualifying results, though they should really not cause a threat to Conchita’s experience on the court.

If successful in her earlier round, Martinez will have to play either up and coming Russian sensation, Elena Bovina, or world number 11 Myskina, also from Russia. They have not played each other yet so it is quite difficult to ascertain as to who will be victorious. Firstly, the head-to-head record for Martinez and Myskina is 1-0 in Myskina’s favour:

New Haven

Aug 25 2002

A Myskina - C Martinez-WC

6-1 6-4

As is evident, this was quite a recent tournament I still think Conchita has it in her to pull off the upset in three sets if she is playing superb tennis.

Indian W.

Mar 11 2001

E Bovina-WC - C Martinez (5)

6-4 6-4

As this was two years ago, and seeing as though the score line was relatively close, Conchita will still have a very good chance of beating Bovina if she went through to the second round. However, this US Open Quarter-Finalist, as well as a recent semi-finalist in the Uncle Toby’s Hardcourt Classics at the Gold Coast last week, has a strong pace of shot that could ultimately defeat Conchita if she is not performing to the best of the ability. On the other hand, Bovina’s patience will surely be tested by Conchita’s topspin moonballs and slices that will force the errors from Bovina’s racquet.

Now, if Conchita is successful in her first two rounds and beats Capriati in the Semi-Finals, unless she goes out to either Panova or Aussie Dominikovic, which is highly unlikely, she could face possible semi-finalist opponents. It is most likely that she will have to play either of the following opponents:

· Lindsay Davenport- they are tied in head to heads at 5-5 with Davenport crushing Conchita 6-0 6-2 in their most recent encounter in November in Philadelphia. I watched Davenport play today where she won 6-3 6-3 against Aussie hope Nicole Pratt and she made too many errors, which would work to Conchita’s advantage.

· Daniela Hantuchova- in the Fed Cup final from 2002, only played last month, Hantuchova won in 3 thrilling sets so if these 2 players would meet, be ready for a very long and interesting match filled with long rallies and winners.

Hoping she gets to the final, she will probably have to play Kim Clijsters whose recent outstanding performance was evident in the Hopman Cup in Perth last week. However, wildcard Anna Kournikova could cause the upset of Henin in the 2^nd round and might pull through to the final if she can beat Clijsters or Chanda Rubin, the 7^th seed, dependent upon how both these players advance up to and including their Quarter-Final match if they are both victorious.

So all the best to Conchita this week and I will be providing match reports for all those I watch for those who are interested! J

Please note that Conchita is also the number 2 seed in doubles with Australian Rennae Stubbs so those matches should be very interesting to watch also!