All Is Quiet On New Year's Day

So my beloved Roger Federer started off the year with an exo loss to Robin Soderling, but I don't think it's anything to be especially worried about it. I didn't see the match, but when Federer serves and volleys five times in a row, you know he's just experimenting and making stuff up. Besides, perhaps this will negate the whole, 'no one beats Robin Soderling [insert number here] times in a row' curse which has been hanging about since the French Open. All in all, I'm not concerned.

And it gives us the opportunity to see a match up between Soderling and Nadal, which I am sure will be extremely highly anticipated. After losing to him in Roland Garros and then again at the year ending championships, I'm sure Rafa will be raring for revenge. He defeated David Ferrer who, while he is a good player, isn't exactly the Yoker. This will be a very good match.

But the tennis event for me has to be the first round of the Hopman Cup, which starts today - and about time too! Australia is playing Romania, which means Sam Stosur will be lining up alongside Sorana Cirstea and Lleyton Hewitt will be facing Victor Hanescu.

Hewitt and Hanescu will be a good match - I like Hewitt to win, I think, but Hanescu might give him a run for his money - but I'm really looking forward to Stosur and Cirstea. I'm a big fan of Stosur, and Cirstea really is one of the players that I think is going to be huge in a year or two. There's a massive crop of youngsters coming up from Romania - they're going to be an absolute powerhouse in women's tennis in the coming decade - and Cirstea is kind of the front runner of this. She's already started actualising some of her potential - she made the Roland Garros quarters last year, where she lost to, guess who? Stosur.

So I'm looking forward to seeing her play. This could be a huge year for Cirstea - and for Stosur. And also for Sabine Lisicki, who is playing for Germany, and a whole bunch of the girls playing Hopman this year. It's going to be good.