Robredo inspires Spain to Hopman Cup win
Saturday, 5 January 2002 16:44Tommy Robredo has made a major impact on the world stage by leading Spain to the Hopman Cup title and his playing partner Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario is tipping him as a future world number one. The 19-year-old, ranked 30th in the world, was unbeaten all week during the event and bounced back from two match points down to beat the 21st-ranked Jan-Michael Gambill in the final.
This mixed team event has a history of drawing attention to rising young stars, with Jelena Dokic, Roger Federer and world number five Kim Clijsters all flourishing at the tournament in recent years and now Robredo has sent out a warning to the more established stars of the game.
"He is a real fighter," explained Sanchez-Vicario. " He has already showed how much he has improved from one hundred and something in the world to number 30. He is doing all the right things to get to the very top of the game, working very hard and could become number one in the world like I was at one stage."
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
