2017 Hopman Cup: Will Roger Federer make his much-awaited comeback?September 23, 2016

The 29th edition of the Hopman Cup, which will be held on January 1-7, will be anticipated by Roger Federer's fans. The Swiss had announced that this mixed-gender event would be his first tournament since Wimbledon. A knee injury forced him to end his season prematurely. Tournament organisers were hoping that nothing would happen to him between now and New Year's Day. Federer was 19 years of age when he teamed up with Martina Hingis and gave Switzerland its second Hopman Cup. He will team up with Belinda Bencic, another Swiss player on a comeback trail. An injury forced her to be sidelined for many months.

Petra Kvitova, who won the 2012 Hopman Cup with Tomas Berdych, will be competing in the event for the third time. She'll team up with Adam Pavlasek.

"It's a big honour for me to play under the Czech Republic," Kvitova said.

Organisers were hoping for Serena Williams to make another appearance, but it won't happen next year. Coco Vandeweghe will team up with Jack Sock, the Olympic champion in mixed doubles. They will announce the teams for Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Spain at a later date, but it wouldn't be difficult to make a guess at this stage.

Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova emerged victorious at Perth Arena early this year. There would be a good chance that the duo would defend their title. (And let's not cite the fact that they have been dating these past months.) Andy Murray and Heather Watson will make another attempt to win the title. (The duo competed last year. They finished first along with the French and Polish squads but lost in the win-lose tiebreaker.) Lucas Pouille and Caroline Garcia might be the likely representatives from France, while Feliciano Lopez and Carla Suarez Navarro might play for Spain. It's too early to predict another title for Federer, but he and Bencic have been well rested. A possible injury would be their only setback.

It wasn't written in the script

Great Britain was favoured to advance to the Davis Cup finals, but it was the Argentinian squad who would make another attempt to win its first Davis Cup title. Juan Martin del Potro sealed the win for the Argentinian side after his five-set victory over Murray. Daniel Orsanic didn't let the 2009 US Open champion play the fifth (and deciding) rubber, as there would be a risk of another injury. Leonardo Mayer, who reached a career-high ranking of 21 last year, rose to the occasion (by beating Daniel Evans in four sets). The Argentinian squad will travel to Croatia this November.

Argentina has been stacked with talents for decades, but it only managed to reach the finals on four occasions. There were reports of discord among players, but it would be a thing of the past. Will Juan Martin del Potro beat Marin ?ili? in front of the Croatian crowd? After beating Stan Wawrinka in Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the Olympics, and Murray in the Davis Cup, then it shouldn't be a question. And Orsanic has many options. He was able to use it to his advantage in Glasgow last weekend.

If Juan Martin del Potro is in form, then Argentina will achieve something that the US and France failed to do. For Delpo's fans, the next step will be a second major title.

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