Venus Williams and Taylor Dent team up for Hopman Cup

[Andy Zarzuela]

Taylor Dent is finally making a comeback from surgery by making his debut in Hopman Cup. He will team up with Venus Williams, who has also been plagued with injuries, particularly in her last match versus Radwanska, where she could only hit a slice backhand at 3-4 down due to she reinjured her wrist. (The clip is on youtube...it's rather depressing because Venus was obviously in pain and tears)

What do you think of USA's chances? Venus obviously will be strong in Women's singles. Afterall, she took out Ivanovic in her first match back since Wimbledon. Dent on the other hand will be a question mark. :S. Mixed doubles should be a good way for Dent to get some all court practice, and Venus is a pretty good mixed doubles player....she made it to the Wimbledon Mixed Final. Should be rather interesting. I wonder who the other countries' teams will be....

 

[tennisnj]

As much as I'd like to see both players at the top of their form if for no other reason than I don't want to hear Venus whine about how lesser players are beating her, what are the realistic chances either or both of them play the Hopman Cup? I believe if you go on the Hopman Cup's website, the other nation's listings are posted.

 

[Bjorn99]

Boy, does anyone care about this stuff? And Venus Williams the more talented? WOW, can't say I agree with you on that one.

 

[crazylevity]

Best ever Hopman Cup team was in 2001.

Roger Federer/Martina Hingis (SUI)

 

[Andy Zarzuela]

Obviously if you didn't care, why did you post? You had to OPTION not to care by not posting. And I never said Venus was more talented than Dent. I just said she enjoys playing mixed doubles and has had moderate success. But if you go by male/female achievement and calibre, then yes, Venus is the more talented of the 2. Granted that she's won 5 slams to Dent's 0. ...so there you go if you're wanting to play that game....sometimes I swear some of you are just haters whenever Williams is mentioned. And that does not apply to all of you. However, even if you aren't a fan of any particular player, you can still look at a topic being discussed and not have a bias and speak on realistic chances/issue, or what have you, etc.

 

[pirateofthecarribean]

Go Venus and Dent! There are many more fans than haters of Venus Williams. In fact, Venus' fans outnumber her haters by more than 10 to 1!

 

[prestige18]

Best ever Hopman Cup team was in 2001.

Roger Federer/Martina Hingis (SUI)

I looked on their website and the past results said that federer played with mirka in 2001, could this have been when their relationship began?

 

[crazylevity]

Wasn't Mirka...I've downloaded clips of the matches that yr. Was Federer and Hingis. All court play galore in the mixed doubles!! Fantastic...

 

[Andy Zarzuela]

USA takes on Russia first round.

TEAM USA: Venus Williams/ Taylor Dent

TEAM RUSSIA: Nadia Petrova/ Dmitry Tursunov

Women's Singles: Venus will probably be rusty from injury and long lay-off, whereas, Nadia will be fresh off a very successful season including an appearance in the YEC.

Prediction: Nadia in 3 sets. However, Venus may surprise us. She wins whenever we don't expect her to.

Men's Singles: Taylor Dent will most likely be VERY RUSTY as well coming off of surgery. Tursunov is a tough cookie, even for in-form players.

Prediction: Tursunov in straight sets.

Mixed Doubles: It could come down to this. I give a slight edge to the players who will have more confidence, Team Russia.