34 NT NEWS. Monday, January 13, 2014. www.ntnews.com.au

PU

B:

NT

NE

WS

DA

TE

:1

3-J

AN

-20

14

PA

GE

:3

4C

OL

OR

:C

MY

K

SPORT l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l ntnews.com.au

MEN’S DRAWTHE draw for the first round ofthemen’s singles at the AustralianOpen (prefix denotes seeding):MEN’S SINGLES1-Rafael Nadal (ESP) vBernardTomic (AUS)Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) vIgor Sijsling (NED)Tobias Kamke (GER) v Jack Sock(USA)Ryan Harrison (USA) v 25-GaelMonfils (FRA)24-Andreas Seppi (ITA) v LleytonHewitt (AUS)Robin Haase (NED) v DonaldYoung (USA)Qualifier v Lucas Pouille (FRA)MarinkoMatosevic (AUS) v16-Kei Nishikori (JPN)11-Milos Raonic (CAN) v DanielGimeno-Traver (ESP)Qualifier v Victor Hanescu (ROM)Qualifier v Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE)Bradley Klahn (USA) v 22-GrigorDimitrov (BUL)27-Benoit Paire (FRA) v QualifierNick Kyrgios (AUS) v BenjaminBecker (GER)Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) v TimSmyczek (USA)Qualifier v 5-JuanMartin Del Potro(ARG)4-AndyMurray (GBR) v Go Soeda(JPN)Qualifier v QualifierQualifier v Michael Llodra (FRA)Somdev Devvarman (IND) v26-Feliciano Lopez (ESP)21-Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vAljaz Bedene (SLO)Michal Przysiezny (POL) v HoracioZeballos (ARG)Qualifier v Federico Delbonis(ARG)Qualifier v 13-John Isner (USA)10-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vFilippo Volandri (ITA)Qualifier v Julian Reister (GER)Marin Cilic (CRO) vMarcelGranollers (ESP)Daniel Brands (GER) v 18-GillesSimon (FRA)31-Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vQualifierTeymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) vSergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)Radek Stepanek (CZE) v BlazKavcic (SLO)JamesDuckworth (AUS) v6-Roger Federer (SUI)7-Tomas Berdych (CZE) vAleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)Wu Di (CHN) v Kenny De Schepper(FRA)Jan Hajek (CZE) v QualifierIvo Karlovic (CRO) v 32-Ivan Dodig(CRO)19-Kevin Anderson (RSA) v JiriVesely (CZE)Qualifier v Joao Sousa (POR)Carlos Berlocq (ARG) v EdouardRoger-Vasselin (FRA)Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) v12-TommyHaas (GER)14-Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) v Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)Florian Mayer (GER) v QualifierAlbert Ramos (ESP) v PabloAndujar (ESP)Jordan Thompson (AUS) v20-Jerzy Janowicz (POL)29-Jeremy Chardy (FRA) v JesseHuta Galung (NED)Qualifier v Alexandr Dolgopolov(UKR)Steve Johnson (USA) v AdrianMannarino (FRA)Alejandro Gonzalez (COL) v3-David Ferrer (ESP)8-StanislasWawrinka (SUI) vAndrey Golubev (KAZ)Alejandro Falla (COL) vMikhailKukushkin (KAZ)Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vMatthewEbden (AUS)Samuel Groth (AUS) v 28-VasekPospisil (CAN)17-Tommy Robredo (ESP) v LukasRosol (CZE)Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) v JulienBenneteau (FRA)Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) v LukaszKubot (POL)Qualifier v 9-Richard Gasquet(FRA)15-Fabio Fognini (ITA) v AlexBogomolov Jr (RUS)Dudi Sela (ISR) v Jarkko Nieminen(FIN)Santiago Giraldo (COL) v SamQuerrey (USA)JuanMonaco (ARG) v 23-ErnestsGulbis (LAT)30-Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vMichael Russell (USA)Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) v DenisIstomin (UZB)LeonardoMayer (ARG) v AlbertMontanes (ESP)Lukas Lacko (SVK) v 2-NovakDjokovic (SRB)

Here’s how some of the top men line-up

No sweat . . . Bernard Tomic is upbeat about his battle with Rafael Nadal Picture: GREGG PORTEOUS

BeliefTomic’sweaponin OpenwarfareTENNIS

ByDARRENWALTON

FEW punters give him achance, but Bernard Tomicbelieves he can turn the Aust-ralian Open on its head andsend world No.1 Rafael Nadalpacking in the first round.

Tomic knows he will needto be at the very top of hisgame — unlike in Saturdaynight’s heavy loss to JuanMartin del Potro in the finalin Sydney — to have any hopeof springing a MelbournePark boilover.

The 21-year-old admitted hethought ‘‘Happy New Year’’when he first drew Nadal lastFriday, but he’s since warm-ed to the idea of challengingthe 13-times Grand Slamchampion on one of thesport’s biggest stages.

‘‘Everything is possible,’’Tomic said when asked if hegave himself a shot of win-ning tomorrow’s marqueematch-up.

‘‘I’m playing good. I’mpretty confident. I’ve just gotto play the tennis I playedearly throughout Sydney.

‘‘I have to be on my game,really embrace the moment,have fun, go for my shots . . . ifI can do that, I’m going to givemyself a chance.’’

Tomic insists his 6-3 6-1 lossto del Potro hasn’t sappedhim of any confidence.

He claims that playing Nad-al is an altogether differentproposition.

‘‘I had no answer to del Po-tro’s game. He was too good.Couldn’t match it,’’ Tomicsaid. ‘‘The player I played,played amazing.

‘‘He’s beaten every playerin the top 10 quite comfort-ably when he played like that.

‘‘To me, he just played toogood. It’s totally two differentgames compared to del Potroand Rafa.

‘‘He’s going to be veryintimidating to play; you justhave to stay with him.

‘‘I mean, he is human.‘‘He does mistakes, obvi-

ously not as much as the oth-er players, but I’ve got to playvery, very good tennis to haveany chance.’’

Tomic said having nothingto lose would help.

He said he would also drawon the experience of havingalready faced Nadal in thethird round of the Open as an18-year-old in 2011.

‘‘I remember I was winning4-love in that second set.

‘‘I had chances to win thatsecond set.

‘‘Obviously I’m very happyto have played him beforehere. Now playing him for thesecond time, I will be takingthat confidence from whatI used in that first matchagainst him for this match onTuesday. But I’m going to useit as an opportunity.

‘‘Whatever happens win,lose, I will be taking a lot fromthis match.

‘‘It’s going to help me.’’

RAFAELNADALAge: 27Ranking: 1Plays: left-handed (two-handedbackhand)Career prizemoney: $US64,826,283($A73.11million)Career titles: 61Grand slam titles: 13 (Australian Open2009; French Open 2005-08, 2010-13;Wimbledon 2008, 2010; US Open 2010,2013)Australian Openwin-loss record:35-7Best Australian Open performance:champion 2009Supplanted Novak Djokovic from the toprankingwith a remarkable 10-titleseason andwill be hungry to take hisOpen crown aswell after losing theirepic six-hour final in 2012 andmissinglast year with injury.

NOVAKDJOKOVICAge: 26Ranking: 2Plays: right-handed (two-handedbackhand)Career prizemoney: $US58,134,445($A65.57million)Career titles: 41Grand slam titles: 6 (Australian Open2008, 2011-2013; Wimbledon 2011; USOpen 2011)Australian Openwin-loss record:39-5Best Australian Open performances:champion 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013Riding a 24-matchwinning streak andbidding to become the first man in theopen era to claim five titles inMelbourne, where he’s proven invincibleover the past three years.

DAVID FERRERAge: 31Ranking: 3Plays: right-handed (two-handedbackhand)Career prizemoney: $US21,936,102($A24.74million)Career titles: 20Grand slam titles: 0Australian Openwin-loss record:28-11Best Australian Open performances:semi-finalist 2011, 2013Continues to play second fiddle to acertain Spanish countryman but finished2013 inside the top three for the firsttime after contesting a tour-high 84matches.

LLEYTONHEWITTAge: 32Ranking: 43Plays: right-handed (two-handedbackhand)Career prizemoney: $US20,002,153($A22.56million)Career titles: 29Grand slam titles: 2 (US Open 2001;Wimbledon 2002)Australian Openwin-loss record:30-17Best Australian Open performance:finalist 2005Proving his vintage run to the last 16 atFlushingMeadowswas no fluke bystarting 2014 in a blaze of glory withwins over Federer andMurray and nolosses from six matches.