Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

The draw for the Brisbane International was held today in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall in front of a buzzing throng of tennis fans.

Assisted by former world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo and Spanish Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco, representatives from the WTA and ATP Tours shaped the make-up of the inaugural Brisbane International.

By chance both Mauresmo and Verdasco were drawn to play Australian foes. Mauresmo will face the re-building Dokic, while Verdasco will meet 16-year-old wildcard recipient Bernard Tomic in what will be a keenly watched match.

Only one player won more than one major title in 2008, and it wasn’t Roger Federer.

That alone made 2008 a year to remember in tennis. Federer and Rafael Nadal and maybe Novak Djokovic are poised for a spirited battle over the men’s No. 1 ranking in 2009. On the women’s side, the top spot has been a revolving door, and nobody seems likely to emerge in the next year to slam it shut.

'Tis the season for early Oscar predictions. But we think those movie critics have a soft job, since they get advance screenings of potential candidates. Who could have scripted the 2008 Wimbledon men's final or foreseen the scramble in the women's rankings? Nonetheless, we'll plunge ahead, figuratively blindfolded, and offer our nominees for tennis' top 10 storylines of 2009:

It was a volatile year in many respects, but 2008 also offered memorable tennis. New faces emerged, and a palpable shift at the top of both tours made for some exciting and intriguing occasions. Here are the top 10 delights of this past season:

1. Sister saga swings on

Here's my list of the top 10 players of 2008 (both men and women):

While Rafael Nadal finished as ATP World Tour Champion for the first time in 2008, four other players made their debut in the Top 10 South African Airways ATP Rankings.

The Top 10 average age was 23.8 years old in 2008, the youngest since 1993 when the Top 10 average was 23.1.

The youngest new addition was 20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro  who broke through this summer to win four consecutive ATP titles. Other newcomers were 21-year-old Andy Murray at No. 4 and 23-year-old Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at No. 6 and Gilles Simon at No. 7.

Former ATP World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and World No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga headline an outstanding playing field for the Medibank International, to be held in Sydney the second week of the 2009 ATP World Tour season.

Tournament Director Craig Watson announced one of the strongest fields in the event’s long and illustrious history, which includes five of the world's top 20 men and 13 of the world’s top 20 women.

Six of the top ten ranked women's players and five of the men's top 20 stars are confirmed to play in next month's Sydney International, organisers said on Thursday.
 
Nine-time grand slam winner Serena Williams and world number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be the top seeds for the mixed WTA/ATP tournament from January 11 to 17.
 
Williams headlines a strong women's field along with other top-tenners Dinara Safina (3), Elena Dementieva (4), Vera Zvonareva (7), Svetlana Kuznetsova (8) and Agnieszka Radwanska (10).
 

Towering Croat Ivo Karlovic earned the king of aces title for the second straight season, leading the ATP circuit with 961 aces in 2008.

The 6'10" Karlovic averaged 17.8 aces through 54 matches, achieving his highest total for the season with 42 in his second round win against Frenchman Florent Serra at the US Open. In a best-of-three-sets match, Karlovic fired 35 aces to Rafael Nadal's six in the Queen's Club quarterfinals but still came up on the losing end in a third-set tie-break.