VietNamNet Bridge – Mardy Fish, the 35^th-ranked player on ATP rankings list, can’t take part in the Heineken Stars in HCM City because he is playing in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup with the US team. He will be replaced by Nicolas Kiefer.

Nicolas Kiefer (photo: AP)

Mardy Fish was suddenly called up to the US tennis team to replace Bob Bryan, who is suffering from a shoulder injury, to play in the Davis Cup 2008 in Spain. Fish sent his apology to Vietnamese fans.

“I looked forward to meeting other tennis players like Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling and coming for the first time to HCM City, which has a tournament which attracts many people and has been praised by many other tennis players. However, I’m busy with my duties on the national team, so I would like to send my apology to Vietnamese tennis fans.”

The organisers of the second Heineken Stars invited Nicolas Kiefer to replace Mardy Fish. Kiefer currently ranks 21^st on ATP’s ranking list, 14 places higher than Fish.

This is the second time Kiefer has come to Vietnam. At the first Heineken Stars tournament, which also saw Carlos Moya, Rainer Schuettler and Juan Carlos Ferrero, Kiefer lost his luggage so he couldn’t play, but he still met with Vietnamese fans.

The Heineken Stars 2008, therefore, will see the presence of four famous tennis players: France’s Jo Wilfried Tsonga (ATP’s 19^th), the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych (22^nd) and Sweden’s Robin Soderling (34^th) and Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer.

The tournament will be held on September 19-20 at the Military Zone 7 sports house.

These four famous tennis players will play in two semi-final matches, slated to begin at 4pm, September 19, and a final match at 7.30pm, September 20.

The Champion of Heineken Stars 2008 will receive $40,000 while the second-place player will receive $20,000 and the two losers in the semi-finals $10,000.

Before each match, these tennis stars will meet fans.

(Source: VNE)