The Hopman Cup has missed out on popular tennis duo Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic for the mixed teams tournament in Perth.
The December 28-January 4 event will be without last year’s Serbian runners-up Djokovic and Ivanovic, and includes only three players ranked in the world top 10.
However organisers remain confident the field for 2014, in the second year under Tennis Australia’s banner since Paul McNamee was dumped, is the most complete and even in the 26-year history.
Australia will be represented by Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur.
Djokovic and Ivanovic have teamed three times previously at the Hopman Cup.
Tournament director Steve Ayles feels that the duo will be back again in the future but it became an impossibility for 2014 once Djokovic had committed to taking part in the Davis Cup final.
“I know that they believe they have unfinished business and that’s the sort of carrot we will be using and of course when Novak has played here he’s always gone on to play well at the Australian Open,” Ayles said.
“We will always be approaching marquee players to come and play at the Hopman Cup, but the other thing is that we do make sure we have a strong, even field.
“It’s actually the Australians that are the main drawcards for the event so we have Bernard and Sam, and then when you throw in (Agnieszka) Radwanska, (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga and (Petra) Kvitova then the strength in this field is going to make it hard to pick a winner.”
While there are no players inside either the men’s or women’s top-three playing at the Hopman Cup, there are nine players inside the top-20.
Women’s world No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska and this year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz are the top seeds as they form Poland’s first ever Hopman Cup team.
The American team of Sloane Stephens and John Isner are the second seeds, followed by France’s Alize Cornet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tomic is set to be without his father John at his side. Hopman Cup officials are set to follow in the footsteps of the Australian Open and other recent tournaments in banning John who doubles as Bernard’s father and coach.
“Ultimately it’s a decision for the ITF because this is an ITF-sanctioned event,” Ayles said.
“Certainly that is the Australian Open’s view and normally with these things the governing bodies fall in line so at this stage I would say that is a likely outcome.”