Chennai: Andre Agassi needs to be held responsible, rather credited, for the pioneering effort. Running up the hills in his home town Nevada, the American tennis star set the trend of pre-season training during what supposed to be an ‘off-season’ in the packed tennis calendar.
The four Australian Open crowns — season’s first grand slam — were fruits of his labour and Agassi’s success inspired other professionals to give up their Christmas parties for strengthening camps.
Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka was on the road till mid November playing the year-end ATP World Tour Finals and hardly enjoyed the break as he had been putting his body through punishing regime in Europe before he packed his bag again the day after Christmas for the new season.
The Swiss world no. 8 is not complaining though as he knows the Tour has become so competitive that only the fittest survive.
As the 19th edition of the Chennai Open that begins here on Monday ushers in a new season, Wawrinka would be hoping to translate that hard work into success stories and live up to the expectations he left behind last year.
In 2013, a dream year that saw Wawrinka emerge out of the shadows of his illustrious countryman Roger Federer, he showed the tennis world that he has it in him to end the Big Four’s — Rafael Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — slam domination.
He knocked out defending champion Murray in the US Open and came close to beating Djokovic in his maiden grand slam semi-final appearance.
Wawrinka, who won the title here in 2011 as a wild card entrant, is the top seed. The 18-year tournament history suggests the 250-point event has been a curse for top seeds.
The no.1 seeds were eliminated either in the first or the second rounds on five occasions, while the no. 2s suffered early exits seven times.
Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal, Richard Krajicek, Magnus Norman, Nikolay Davydenko and Marin Cilic are part of the ignominious list of those who packed their bags early.
Billie Jean King is an American former World No. 1 professional tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women's doubles, and 11 mixed doubles titles.
Billie Jean King won the singles title at the inaugural WTA Tour Championships.Chris Evert also known as Chris Evert-Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships and three doubles titles.Chris Evert was the year-ending World No. 1 singles player in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, and 1981. Overall Evert won 157 singles championships and 29 doubles titles.Justine Henin-Hardenne is a Belgian retired professional tennis player and former World No. 1. Henin won 43 WTA singles titles and seven Grand Slam singles titles, including four French Open titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open titles.Andre Agassi said of Henin, "Justine Henin is one of the most talented women ever to have played the game of tennis."Margaret Smith Court is a retired World No. 1 professional tennis player and Christian minister from Australia.In 1970, Court became the first woman during the open era (and the second woman in history) to win the singles Grand Slam (all four majors in the same calendar year). Court won a (still current) record 24 of those titles during her career. She also won 19 women's doubles and 21 mixed doubles titles, giving her a record 64 Major titles overall.A United States resident since 1994, Maria Sharapova has won twenty-nine WTA singles titles, including four Grand Slam singles titles. She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004. The WTA has ranked Sharapova World No. 1 in singles on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeksMaria Sharapova became the world no. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last held the ranking for the fifth time for four weeks from June 11, 2012 to July 8, 2012. She has been in eight Grand Slam finals with a record of 4–4.Martina Navratilova is a retired Czech American tennis player and coach. Billie Jean King, former World No. 1 player, said in 2006 that Navratilova is "the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including nine consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times.Monika Seles is the former Yugoslav world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.In 1990, at the age of 16, Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion. She went on to win eight Grand Slam singles titles before her 20th birthday and was the year-end World No. 1 in 1991 and 1992. However, on April 30, 1993 she was the victim of an on-court attack, when a man stabbed her in the back with a 9-inch-long knife.Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in women's singles tennis. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on six separate occasions.Williams became the World No. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002, and regained this ranking for the sixth time on February 18, 2013, becoming the oldest world no. 1 player in WTA's history. She is the only female player to have won over $50 million in prize money. Williams is the reigning French Open, US Open, WTA Tour Championships and Olympic ladies singles champion.Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player. In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24.Graf was ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 total weeks—the longest period for which any player, male or female, has held the number-one ranking since the WTA and the Association of Tennis Professionals began issuing rankings. She also holds the open era record for finishing as the year-end World No. 1 the most times.Venus Williams has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first black woman to achieve this feat during the Open Era. She is credited as changing the women's game and ushering a new, modern era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. She is also regarded as the best grass court player of her generation and she is widely considered as one of the all-time greats of women's tennis.
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