By Etienne Stekelenburg
December 18 2002

After Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario announced her retirement from the Tour replacement had to be found for the Spanish Team who entered the Hopman Cup for 2003. Sanchez-Vicario played for the Hopman Cup seven times and took she the title twice for the Spanish team. Tournament Director Paul McNamee commented: “Arantxa has been a great supporterof the Hopman Cup. She is the only individual player to have won the tournament twice. Weare sad that she is unable to defend her title but would like to thank her for all the wonderfulmemories she has given us over the years.”

Sanchez-Vicario’s substitute Virginia Ruano Pascual is the 2002 ITF World Doubles Champion and winner of three Grand Slam Double titles, Roland Garros 2001 and 2002 and the 2002 US Open. She will partner up with Tommy Robredo aiming for another Hopman Cup title. If they succeed doing so the Spanish team is the first nation who wins a back-to-back title.

The line up for this years Hyundai Hopman Cup includes the two year-end world number ones, Lleyton Hewitt from Australia and Serena Williams playing for the USA. The Hopman Cup is a mixed team Championship under the flag of the ITF and held each year in Perth, Australia.

The matches begin on Saturday 28 December with the match between Uzbekistan and Paraguay to decide the last nation to enter the Championships. The final match is scheduled for 4 January 2003.

Teams nominated for the 2003 Hyundai Hopman Cup:

USA: (1) Serena Williams & James Blake
Australia: (2) Alicia Molik & Lleyton Hewitt
Czech Republic: (3) Daja Bedanova & Jiri Novak
Belgium: (4) Kim Clijsters & Xavier Malisse
Italy: Silvia Farina Elia & Davide Sanguinetti
Slovak Rep: Daniela Hantuchova & Dominik Hrbaty
Spain: Virginia Ruano Pascual & Tommy Robredo
Paraguay: Rossana Neffa de Los Rios & Ramon Delgado
Uzbekistan: Iroda Tulyaganova & Oleg Ogorodov