Preview of 2014 @OptimaOpen @ChampionsTennis in Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Duncan Lau, Tennis East Coast
The champions will return to the Royal Zoute Tennis Club in Knokke-Heist for the next stop on the ATP Champions Tour from August 14 until August 17.
This year’s line up in singles consists of 2010 Runner-up Pat Cash, Greg Rusedski, Xavier Malisse, Fabrice Santoro, Henri Leconte and defending champion Goran Ivanisevic.
The players will be drawn into two groups of three players each with the group winners playing each other on Sunday.
To be eligible to play on the ATP Champions Tour, players must have been either a World No. 1 singles player during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team. Each tournament can give two wild cards to players who don’t meet this criteria.
Doubles Exhibitions
There will be a doubles exhibition match every day and besides some of the players who play in the singles event, we’ll get to see some former world number ones like Kim Clijsters, Monica Seles and John McEnroe in action. Master entertainer Mansour Bahrami will be there in every single one of these exhibition matches so the crowd will have plenty of good laughs and will also see plenty of trick shots in between the action.
The Players:
Henri Leconte, France, 1963
The frenchman enjoyed a successful career which saw him rise to a career high of # 5 on the ATP rankings in the fall of 1986. Leconte’s best result in a Grand Slam tournament came in 1988 when he made the final of his home Slam in Paris, losing the final to Sweden’s Mats Wilander. He made semis in Paris in 1986 and 1992 as well. On the grass courts at Wimbledon, he made the semis in 1986 and quarters in 1985 and 1987. A quarterfinal at the US Open in 1986 was his best result in New York.
Alongside countryman Yannick Noah, he also won the 1984 French Open in doubles and they were runners-up a year later at the US Open. In 1991, Leconte played a huge part in France’s Davis Cup final win over the United States, beating Pete Sampras on the opening day to level the tie at 1-1 and partnering with Guy Forget to a surprise win over Flach/Seguso .
Pat Cash, Australia, 1965
Cash was Australia’s most succesful player in the 1980s, winning the Wimbledon title in 1987, making back to back Australian Open finals in 1987 and 1988 and reaching the 1984 US Open semifinals. He also led his country to Davis Cup wins in 1983 and 1986, winning the decisive point in both finals in both home ties against Sweden. He reached a career-high ranking of # 4 in 1988. He also made the Wimbledon doubles finals in 1984 and 1985, but lost in both attempts. Most importantly, he was a runner-up here in Knokke-Heist in 2010.
Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1971
Ivanisevic booked his best results on the grass courts at Wimbledon where he finished runner-up in 1992, 1994 and 1998 before finally winning there in 2001 as a wild card entry. Ranked 125 at the time of the tournament, no one expected him to do well but he proved everyone wrong, beating crowd favorite Henman in the semis and defeating Rafter in a classic final in five sets. He also made the semifinals at the US Open in 1996 and made quarterfinals at both the Australian (89/94/97) and French Open (90/92/94). In doubles, he played in the Roland Garros finals in 1990 and 1999. Ivanisevic was a semifinalist at the year end Masters in 1992,1993 and 1996. He seems to enjoys playing in Knokke-Heist, as he’s won titles here in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and is still to lose a match in the Belgian seaside resort. He acheived a career-high ranking of # 2.
Fabrice Santoro, France, 1972
Santoro is a French ball magician who started his career in the late 80’s and finished it in 2010. He made the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2006 and enjoyed great success in doubles, winning the Australian Open in 2003/2004, making the French Open final in 2004 and the Wimbledon final in 2006. Santoro reached a career high in singles in the summer of 2001 at # 17. He’s also a member of the winning Davis Cup team in 2001, when he won the doubles match against Australia. It is Santoro who replaces John McEnroe in Knokke-Heist.
Greg Rusedski, Great Britain, 1973
Rusedski is a Canadian-born player who started playing for Great Britain in 1995. He made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1997 and a few months later booked his best ever result at a slam at the US Open, where he finished runner up to Patrick Rafter. He reached a career high of # 4 in the fall of 1997.
Xavier Malisse, Belgium, 1980
Malisse is the best Belgian player of all time who finished his career at the end of the 2013 season. He was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2002 and won the French Open doubles title with countryman Olivier Rochus in 2004. The “X-Man” received a wild card to play in front of his own home crowd.
Tennis Atlantic 