An update about January

Argh, that time of the year again. After switching jobs I no longer have 6 weeks of leave at my disposal so sacrifices have to be made. On top of that, I’m forced to have leave deducted (7 days in total!) when the office is closed. So even if I wanted to work between Christmas & New Years – I can’t. It’s annoying because I prefer to stay indoors during school/public holidays! I don’t want to run into screaming children or teenyboppers wherever I turn. (I sound like an old bag now, but it’s true.) Plus airfares etc will be expensive, and the weather is going to be HOT.

I could go on and on, but will spare my blog at this time.

I’m seriously considering Adelaide because it’s the only tournament which falls during my compulsory holidays. I know it’s hard to imagine spending New Years there (again! think back to 2005 & 2006!) but it will be the last one (before the tournament moves to Brisbane!) so it has some positives. Plus I would like to do some sightseeing this time (!), or at least make it to Glenelg, or German town. Perth is out of the question because no favourites are there, even though I would like to go there, sometime. But airfares from here to Perth is ridiculously expensive. (like $300+ one way)

For the 2nd week I would like to go to Sydney. However, JCF needs to be there but I have a feeling he won’t be. I don’t know why he has been putting his name down for Auckland for the last 3 years when he lists Australia as his favourite place in the world. (reference: see post 2 ) Maybe someone just needs to get rid of Chris Guccione.

And then there is Melbourne. I’m fairly certain I’ll be pushing my luck if I ask for 2 weeks unpaid leave after only working there for 1/2 year. So I might go for a couple of days – enough to see round 1 at least, and not suffer sun stroke.

Official entry lists are not out yet, but here’s the info I’ve found so far:

Hopman Cup (Perth)
List of confirmed teams

Adelaide
Confirmed: Lleyton Hewitt & Richard Gasquet
Likely: Mario Ancic (source) & Jarkko Nieminen (source – read this article if you’re a Jarkko fan!)

Sydney
Confirmed: James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt Richard Gasquet, Ana Ivanovic

Auckland
stop stealing my favourites!
Confirmed: David Ferrer, Guillermo Canas, Juan Monaco, Mario Ancic
Likely: Jarkko Nieminen (same source as above)