Yonex is back in the women's top ten. The Japanese racquet manufacturer bought the ticket to tennis elite by signing Ana Ivanovic, Roland Garros runner up and world number four to a three-year endorsement contract. Their partnership became official last Friday. Ivanovic will attempt to bring Yonex back to the very top of tennis for the first time since the days Martina Hingis and Lleyton Hewitt topped the world rankings.
Ivanovic joins Elena Dementieva, Nicole Vaidisova, Maria Kirilenko, David Nalbandian and Hewitt as Yonex endorsers.
A former Wilson player, the 20-year-old Serbian star reportedly received a better offer from Yonex and opted to make the switch. Yonex initially gave Ivanovic 36 racquets to play test and she has narrowed down the selections to two racquets. When she has finalized her choice and settled on one frame, Yonex will begin production on that frame.
Ivanovic arrived in Sydney on Wednesday to begin preparation for the new season working with veteran coach Sven Groeneveld, who worked with her for stretches last season. Ivanovic will play the Tier II Medibank International in Sydney starting on January 7. She has reached the Sydney quarterfinals in each of the past two years, losing to Vaidisova, 6-4, 6-2, in January a year after a straight-sets setback to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Prior to the start of the Sydney event, Ivanovic will join Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Daniela Hantuchova, Anna Chakvetadze, Elena Dementieva, Peng Shuai and Caroline Wozniacki in the JB Group Classic, an eight-player exhibition set for January 2-5 in Hong Kong.
Ivanovic is fitter and trimmer than she was last season thanks to an off-season conditioning program. She trained at the LTA's new tennis centre in Roehampton and disclosed she will put London on her short list of possible places to live and train when not in Belgrade.
Another city on the list is Amsterdam where Groeneveld lives and Ivanovic visited for practice when preparing for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid last month.
Vojin Velickovic lives in Belgrade and is the tennis editor for the best-selling Serbian sport daily.
