{"id":9196,"date":"2014-08-13T08:29:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T00:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=9196"},"modified":"2014-08-13T08:29:54","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T00:29:54","slug":"murray-kyrgios-dellacqua-watson-headed-for-hopman-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2014\/08\/13\/murray-kyrgios-dellacqua-watson-headed-for-hopman-cup","title":{"rendered":"Murray, Kyrgios, Dellacqua, Watson Headed For Hopman Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9197\" alt=\"Australia-and-Great-Britain-700x450\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/files\/2014\/08\/Australia-and-Great-Britain-700x450.jpg\" width=\"410\" height=\"264\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Two-time Grand Slam champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist\u00a0<strong>Andy Murray<\/strong>\u00a0and Australia\u2019s rising star\u00a0<strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong>\u00a0are heading to Perth in 2015 to play the Hopman Cup, the official mixed teams\u2019 competition of the ITF.<\/p>\n<p>Nineteen-year-old Kyrgios, who upset Rafael Nadal to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last month, will pair with Perth\u2019s own\u00a0<strong>Casey Dellacqua<\/strong>\u00a0for Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Murray, the 2013 Wimbledon and 2012 US Open champion, returns to Perth for the third time where he will be joined by 22-year-old\u00a0<strong>Heather Watson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The Scot, who has captured 28 ATP singles titles and has reached seven Grand Slam singles finals, including finishing runner-up at three Australian Opens, considers the Hopman Cup as a pivotal event in the lead-up to the first Grand Slam of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI find it [Hopman Cup] very good preparation for the Australian Open. The organisers look after everyone extremely well there,\u201d said Murray, who played the Hopman Cup in 2010, when he was a finalist, and in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think just getting there early you get at least three single matches, you get the mixed doubles as well, which is good fun, it sharpens up the net game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that it\u2019s outdoors too, it\u2019s absolutely perfect, so I\u2019m looking forward to it,\u201d continued Murray, who retained a career-high ranking of No.2 and a top 4 ranking for the sixth straight season in 2013.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Andy Murray is coming to Perth - Hopman Cup 2015\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W93Fd6eNesI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Murray and Watson, Great Britain\u2019s No.1 female player, will line-up to play mixed doubles for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will be the first time Andy and I will have played mixed doubles so I hope we can do our best to win the Hopman Cup. That would be brilliant,\u201d said Watson, the world No.46.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard great things about the event. I grew up watching it, so the chance to play and team up with Andy is very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kyrgios is the youngest player in the top 100, having climbed up the rankings by more than 750 places since January 2013 to reach a career-best ranking of 58 this week. The teen sensation will make his Hopman Cup debut in 2015 and is keen to put on a show for the local crowds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah I\u2019m hopefully going to show them that I\u2019ve improved more since they last saw me play. I\u2019ve been working hard and it\u2019s another chance to go out there and see where I\u2019m at, to just compete and do what I love to do,\u201d said Kyrgios.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard the Perth Arena is a great stadium. The atmosphere in there is really good from what I\u2019ve seen. Hopefully we can get that atmosphere like a Davis Cup tie. That would be just sensational to play in front of a crowd like that because it really gives me the energy and spark to perform out there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll be teaming up with Casey and I think she\u2019ll be the leader of our little duo. I\u2019m going to look up to her so hopefully she can lead me when we play a bit of mixed doubles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kyrgios and Dellacqua team up - Hopman Cup 2015\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9texRoRw7j4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Perth native Dellacqua achieved a milestone of her own on Monday, moving into the world\u2019s top 30 for the first time, and is looking forward to returning to WA to play at the Perth Arena.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really happy to be playing the Hopman Cup again, it\u2019s always a privilege to go out and play for your country,\u201d said Dellacqua, who\u2019s recent ranking rise is likely to see her seeded at the US Open later this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo play in front of my home crowd in Perth is a bonus. I always love playing in Australia and really enjoy the crowd support. To have the chance to play some big matches in my hometown will be extra special and no doubt all my family and friends will come to cheer us on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m also really excited about playing at the Perth Arena. It looks amazing on TV and both Alicia [Molik] and Sam [Stosur] have told me it\u2019s fantastic. I was really disappointed that I had to withdraw from the 2013 Hopman Cup with injury, so it will be good to get out there and experience it for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the past 20 months Dellacqua has won three WTA doubles titles and has reached three Grand Slam doubles finals. Earlier this year the 29-year-old reached the fourth round at the Australian Open before reaching the quarterfinals at Indian Wells.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a good year so far and I\u2019m motivated to keep working hard and to perform well. To hit a career-high ranking is exciting and I\u2019m looking forward to building on this,\u201d continued Dellacqua.<\/p>\n<p>Great Britain and Australia are the first two teams to be confirmed for the Hopman Cup and<strong>\u00a0Tournament Director Paul Kilderry<\/strong>\u00a0is delighted they have decided to kick start their New Year in Perth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are extremely excited to welcome superstar Andy Murray back to Perth. He was hugely popular when he played in 2010 and 2011 and I\u2019m sure the fans will be thrilled to see him again at Hopman Cup 2015,\u201d said Kilderry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAndy and Heather promise to be a great team and are definite contenders to win Great Britain\u2019s first ever Hopman Cup crown in January.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur Aussie team always attracts a lot of attention and we\u2019re very excited we\u2019ve been able to sign up Nick Kyrgios, who had such an inspirational run at Wimbledon. It\u2019s always great to have Casey in the line-up as a local Perth girl, especially as she\u2019s in the best form of her career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The WA Government through Tourism WA also announced today a new three-year partnership with the Hopman Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTourism WA have been a founding sponsor of the event and we\u2019ve enjoyed a close working relationship, with the combined objective of showcasing Perth to the world. We are very pleased they\u2019ve extended their support for another three years,\u201d addedKilderry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Hopman Cup is Perth\u2019s premier international sporting event and we look forward to growing both the event at the stunning Perth Arena, and interest in our terrific sport in Western Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hopman Cup is proudly supported locally by the State Government, through Tourism WA, and will take place at Perth Arena from Sunday 4 to Saturday 10 January 2015.<\/p>\n<p>To access exclusive pre-sale offerings you can\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hopmancup.com\/tickets\/membership\" target=\"_blank\">become a Hopman Cup member\u00a0<\/a>or a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tennis West registered player<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"TICKETS\" href=\"http:\/\/hopmancup.com\/tickets\">Hopman Cup ticket packages<\/a>\u00a0are on sale to the general public from 1 October 2014.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time Grand Slam champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist\u00a0Andy Murray\u00a0and Australia\u2019s rising star\u00a0Nick Kyrgios\u00a0are heading to Perth in 2015 to play the Hopman Cup, the official mixed teams\u2019 competition of the ITF. Nineteen-year-old Kyrgios, who upset Rafael Nadal to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last month, will pair with Perth\u2019s own\u00a0Casey Dellacqua\u00a0for Australia. Murray, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5894,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}