Francesca Schiavone will start her 2013 season by participating in the Hobart International Tennis tournament which is going to start from 4th of January. Apart from Schiavone, some other top ranked players including Sorana Cirstea, Vera Zvonareva, and Su-Wei Hsieh are also going to participate in this tournament. But, Schiavone has more experience than all these players and she is the top favourite to win this tournament.
Schiavone didn’t have a very good 2012 season. When she had started the season, she was at no. 11 in the official rankings of WTA, but, she ended the season as the no. 35 player in the world which indicates how poor her performance was in the 2012 season.
Schiavone played 47 matches in 2012 out of which she managed to win only 25. She won only one title in the 2012 season i.e. WTA event at Strasbourg. She defeated Alize Cornet of France in the final match of that tournament in the straight sets. After that, she didn’t manage to reach the final of any tournament.
Confirming the participation of Schiavone in the Hobart International, the tournament director Mark Handley said, “We are delighted to inform you all that Francesca Schiavone will take part in the Hobart International Tennis tournament next year. She is a star player and a Grand Slam Champion. So, she will definitely increase the popularity of the tournament and will draw more and more people towards the Domain tennis centre.”
Handley also said that talks are going on with some other players as well and he would confirm their participation in the following weeks. The tournament is going to be played on the hard courts of Tasmania. So, it is a perfect warm up tournament for the players before the Australian Open.