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MCTA Stars Set for Nottingham
Challenge
 After
contrasting results last week, Anna
Fitzpatrick and Ana Veselinovic
remain in Nottingham for the $25,000
ITF tournament at the Tennis Centre
looking to build on their recent
performances.
Fitzpatrick, who
reached the semifinals at the
$10,000 hard court event before
losing to fellow Briton Anna Smith,
has received a first round bye while
Veselinovic – who lost in the first
round last week – takes on No. 8
seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
David Sammel,
director of coaching at the
Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy, says the
two stars are looking forward to the
week ahead.
“After a
disappointing week, Ana Veselinovic
will attempt to put things right.
Mentally I think she is ready for
the challenge. Anna Fitzpatrick has
had a decent build-up with her
semifinal showing, although winning
the tournament was certainly the
aim. Her form indicates that she is
ready to make a move in the
Challengers but until she does it
means little to be ready unless she
backs it up with the results. She
has four Challengers in the next six
weeks to hopefully achieve a strong
run.”
Sammel also hopes
that Fitzpatrick in particular will
take encouragement from Anne
Keothavong’s performance in Kolkata
last week, when she became the first
the British semifinalist on the Sony
Ericsson WTA Tour since Jo Durie in
1992. “I am pleased to see
Keothavong beginning to lead a
charge towards the top 100 with a
WTA semifinal appearance, which is
good for Anna to see,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sammel
paid tribute to former World No. 4
Tim Henman, who retired from the
game after leading Great Britain
back into the Davis Cup World Group
with two wins in the 4-1 victory
over Croatia at Wimbledon.
“I've known Tim since juniors and
his enthusiasm and belief that he
would play pro tennis were clear to
the tennis world,” said Sammel. “He
deserves everything he achieved and
has bowed out at the right time.
British Tennis was the richer for
his era, so tough being the premier
flag bearer for so long, but Tim was
tougher than many realise. The shame
of it all is the public never had
the opportunity to really sample his
humour because Tim is a very
sociable guy and possibly in
retirement this side of Tim will
emerge.”
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