Tennis : The New Zealand Rugby Union has announced a cautious budget approach for 2009 which will see changes to some teams and competitions. The

New Zealand No1 Rubin Statham has been granted a main draw wildcard into the 2009 Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign Singles and Doubles.
The 21-year-old from Auckland made dramatic improvements in his game in 2008 after starting the year ranked over 550 in the world. He now sits at a career-high of 414 and that is despite a thumb injury which kept him out of play for over a month in September and October.
His best result was at the US$50,000 Baton Rouge Challenger, United States where he beat two top-250 ranked opponents on the way to the semis before losing to second seed and top-100 player, Bobby Reynolds.

Statham has reached two career Futures finals, the latest being in Malaysia in November. There was also a semifinal result at the Hamilton Futures and in a Futures in the United States. His first career singles final was In Japan in 2005.

“Rubin performed well this year with his ranking improving to take him to make him to the No1 New Zealand player. He has earned the wildcard with his results and raised his performance,” said Heineken Open Tournament Director, Richard Palmer.

In doubles in 2008 Statham won a Futures title in Thailand with fellow Kiwi Matt Simpson but had a top result in making the final with Ti Chen(Taipei) at the Winnetka Challenger, a US$50,000 event in the United States.

Statham has a twin brother, Oliver who is also a professional tennis player and competed in the qualifying of the 2008 Heineken Open.

“It’s a great opportunity to get a shot at the Heineken Open. It’s a very tough tournament but it’s good to be in it. You always want to do well and I’d like to be able to capitalise on the wildcard and make it through a couple of rounds,” said Statham.

“This year has been very good for me. I’ve managed to come up quite a few places on the ATP rankings,” he said.

Statham is currently the top seed in the New Zealand Residentials Championships on the North Shore this week.

Top seeds for the Heineken Open are Argentine Juan Martin del Potro at No9 followed by former champion David Ferrer of Spain at 12.
Sweden’s Robin Soderling will be the third seed with a ranking of 17 while another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro rounds out the top four seeds at No18 in the world.
The Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign Singles and Doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, January 12-17, 2009 with the first two days of qualifying January 10-11, 2009 at the Albany Tennis Park, Oteha Valley Road, Albany starting at 10am each day.
The 2009 tournament will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play and audio podcasts.
www.heinekenopen.co.nz