Aussie men, US women eye tennis medal haul

Sydney: An inspired Australian men's trio aim to claim hometown glory, and American women eye a clean sweep of the medals in the Olympic tennis tournament starting Tuesday.

Young Lleyton Hewitt, dashing veteran Patrick Rafter and the explosive Mark Philippoussis are three highly motivated contenders for men's gold on their home courts at Olympic Park.

"I'd give up one of my US Open titles for a medal," said double US champion Rafter after checking into the Olympic Village.

Visitors Lindsay Davenport, Venus and Serena Williams and Monica Seles, meanwhile, have left room in their travel bags for Olympic hardware.

US team coach Billie Jean King is not shy about the prospects of defending champion Davenport, Venus Williams and Seles, seeded 1-2-3, respectively, in singles and the powerful doubles team of sisters Venus and Serena Williams.

"If you went to sleep and tried to dream up the most wonderful team ever to represent the United States of America, we have it right here," King said. "There's no reason in the world why we shouldn't sweep all the medals.

"There's a lot of competition out there but this is totally a dream team. I know that phrase gets used a lot but this is as good as it gets."

Safin could spoil Australia's party

The Australian men may be dreaming of an Olympic celebration party, but reigning US Open champion Marat Safin could spoil their plans.

Safin stunned the tennis world with his overwhelming straight-sets rout of record Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras in this month's Open final, and fans are eager to see whether he can maintain that irresistible form.

The power-hitting 20-year-old Russian, however, is still far from arriving in Sydney after advancing to the final of the President's Cup tournament in distant Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Third seed Magnus Norman of Sweden, for one, thinks top seed Safin has the cards stacked against his bid for Olympic glory.

"I don't think he is going to be a big threat," the 24-year-old Swede said after a centre court practice.

"Travelling from Tashkent will be very difficult. If I had to do that, I'm sure I'd feel terribly tired and weaker."

Besides jet lag, Safin will also have to contend with a difficult first-round test on the wind-blown courts by Homebush Bay. Safin faces France's Fabrice Santoro, who leads their career series, 4-0.

"The conditions are very fast," said Norman. "And it can be very windy. All that should favour the Australian boys."

Venus has that winning feeling

Davenport is top-seeded and the Olympic champion, but Venus Williams has to be favourite in the women's event.

Williams carries a 26-match winning streak into the Olympic tournament, going unbeaten since losing to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the quarter-finals of the French Open.

"At this point when I haven't lost in a little while, I don't know what it's like to lose," said the 20-year-old Williams, who has collected her first two Grand Slam titles, at Wimbledon and the US Open, along the way.

"Three months. That's a good feeling. I don't like to lose."

Australian Open champion Davenport, who lost to Williams in both the Wimbledon and US finals, will not relinquish her Olympic crown without a fight.

"I think that the special thing about the Olympics is that it puts you in a different category of champions," said Davenport."It makes you Olympic champions instead of just tennis players and Grand Slam champions and that's very special. It's such elite company and nothing can really beat that."



(c) Reuters Limited.