Abu Dhabi, Dec 31 (DPA) Roger Federer is biding his time as he starts his 2010 season on a low-key note at the six-man Capitala exhibition in the Gulf from Thursday.
It is the second year that he has kicked off in the region, where he also bases himself for training in Dubai.
Despite 15 Grand Slam titles in his pocket, life on court is still no picnic for the 28-year-old, with fresh challenges from rivals led by Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray likely to come fast and furious during the 2010 season.
Federer has not yet determined the final shape of his Australian Open preparation.
In past years, that has been a simple matter, as he played the eight-man AAMI Classic at Melbourne’s Kooyong Club.
But the number one will make a final decision only after the Abu Dhabi tie concludes Saturday.
Organisers at Kooying, which runs January 13-16, are holding a spot for Federer, with the alternative being private practise prior to the January 18 start of the Open.
Federer won 37 of his past 40 matches at Melbourne Park with three titles.
After breaking through in 2009 with his first French Open title and nosing into history by winning a sixth Wimbledon, maintaining pace will be the goal for Federer this season.
With his eye on a possible Paris defence in late spring, he is to skip Monte Carlo and instead play on clay in early May in Estoril, Portugal, where he won in 2008.
Nadal, also playing in Abu Dhabi along with London World Tour Finals champion Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, has had little more than a month since helping Spain to a fourth David Cup title in a decade.
The number two admits that he is keen to rebound from a season in which injuries compromised his form, causing a lengthy absence at the midway point that resulted in missing his Wimbledon title defence.
Nadal is also considering cuts to his ambitious clay schedule. “I don’t want to make the mistakes of the past season,” said the four-time French Open winner. “I had a knee problem but decided to play anyway.”
“I had a physical problem in the last tournaments of the year. The situation prevented me from winning a title,” said the player who claimed his last ATP honour in May in Rome.
Djokovic stormed past Murray in the rankings during the autumn to number three and appears to be taking a page from Nadal’s playbook.
The Serb scrapped planned January starts in Brisbane and Sydney and is to begin his year at Kooyong, followed by the Australian Open, which he won in 2008.
“I will have to try to do everything I can to put priorities on events that I have to perform my best tennis in – Grand Slams and Masters 1000 events.”
Murray spent December training in Miami and will be keen to shake his reputation as a traditional under-performer in Australia, where he has never been past the fourth round.
Davydenko, sixth in the world, won London a month ago to clock his fifth title of 2009. The 28-year-old might even tone down the most ambitious schedule of any top 10 player, out three injury months but still playing 23 events.
Hoping for a rise will be Argentine Juan Del Potro, the number five who struck down Federer for the US Open title and lost the London final to Davydenko.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams needs to defend her now number one ranking starting in Sydney and continue to an Australian Open title defence.
The American will have to live with any fallout over the massive fine she copped for threatening a lineswoman with physical harm at the US Open.
Russian Dinara Safina will start late due to a lingering back injury which could affect her Australian Open, while January is to be enlivened by the return of seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin after a brief retirement.
Joining her Belgian compatriot in Australia will be Kim Clijsters, who won the US Open after reversing her own retirement. US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer will be back on court after a one-year ban for missing drug testing was reversed on appeal.
rounak