The Australian Open has made some steps to make the tremendous heat more bearable for the players. The tournament's heat policy has been amended so that when extreme conditions are declared matches in progress won't have to be immediately finished. Plus, there is a new surface that retains less heat. Read more »
Venus and Serena Williams are planning to join forces for the 2008 Australian Open doubles competition. The sisters are always an attraction when they team up, even though their current ranking in doubles is 9999.
The last time we saw them together on court was at this year’s Wimbledon, but then they had to withdraw in the second round because of Serena's injured thimb.
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley is very excited to have these two champions play together:
“The Williams sisters in full flight on the same side of the net is one of the great sights in tennis,” Tiley said. “They are also one of the most skilled pairings on the world circuit with an incredibly successful record in doubles.”
The Williams sisters are one of only five pairings in women's tennis history to win a career doubles grand slam. They have won six majors (Wimbledon and Australian Open twice, US Open and French Open) and an Olympic gold medal in Sydney in 2000.
The Australian Open director Craig Tiley announced that the tournament will adopt a three-plus-one challenge system for Hawk-Eye, which means that players will get three incorrect challenges per set and a fourth challenge if it goes into a tiebreaker (a change from this year’s two-plus-one system). In this way it will be highly unlikely that players run out of challenges.
Additionally, the Hawk-Eye technology will be used in Vodafone Arena too, and not only in the Rod Laver Arena as it was the case before.
The 2008 Australian Open will take place January 14-27.
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