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Bulgaria with the first part in "Hopman Cup" 11.10.2011

Bulgaria is one of eight nations that will participate in the 24th edition of "The Hopman Cup" - the unofficial World Cup mixed teams tennis, from 31 December to 7 January 2012 in the Australian city of Perth. In the prestigious race, our country will be represented by our first rockets in women and men - Tsvetana Pironkova and Grigor Dimitrov.

Bulgaria's participation in the big eight was confirmed today by tournament director Paul Makneymi in a formal letter to the President of the Bulgarian Tennis Federation Stefan Tsvetkov. Shortly after it was downloaded a lot of distribution groups, such as Western Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Dr Kim Heyms Bulgaria to send a group of teams with the U.S., Denmark and the Czech Republic.

According to the rules of a championship team match consists of two singles matches - male and female, and one mixed doubles. The draw means that Tsvetana Pironkova and Grigor Dimitrov will have two games with players from the world top 10 prize - Color will face Carolina Wozniacki (â„– 1 in the world) Petra Kvitova (â„– 4) and beta-Matek Sands (â„– 54) and Grigor Dimitrov - against Tomas Berdych (â„– 7) Mardy Fish (â„– 9) and Frederik Nielsen (â„– 198).

"With the invitation to" Hopman Cup "Bulgarian tennis world received another recognition! Honor to be included among the eight top teams in the world due mainly to strong performance of color and Gregory!" Said President of BTF Stefan Tsvetkov.

"Bulgaria is increasingly approve the map of world tennis - call our" Hopman Cup, "followed by arrangement, which reached a WTA, Sofia to host the tournament champion in the next three years," said oshtTsvetkov is.

He said participation in the tournament will be another great advertisement for our country in the world. "Hopman Cup" is the most prestigious event in the beginning of the year and is broadcast worldwide. Participation of color and Gregory will give additional impetus to our adolescent tennis players, "added the president of the BTF. Bulgaria was invited for the first time in history," Hopman Cup "and became the 40th country competing in the prestigious race.

"The tournament involved eight countries and this fact speaks for itself. This is an extremely prestigious event and will be our great honor to participate and represent Bulgaria," said our first rocket in women Tsvetana Pironkova.

Draw on it remained positive: "On" Hopman Cup "good draw could not have. All teams participate with their best players, which means that it will be difficult. Indeed, our group is very strong, but I will go at especially to make good matches as possible to win and represent Bulgaria well. I have heard that the league is very well organized and players are my friends told me that this is the most enjoyable event of the year. I am very happy that will participate, "added 1/4-finalistkata of" Wimbledon "this year.

Participants in "Hopman Cup" are divided into 2 groups, which plays on "everyone against everyone." Winners in both groups qualify for finals. The meeting began with women's singles, followed by fights between men and doubles matches. The first game of the upcoming race is on December 31, 2011 at 9.30 am local time (France v China), and the final is scheduled for January 7, 2012 from 15:00 hours.

The program ofBulgarian meetings:
2 January, 9.30 - Czech Republic - Bulgaria
January 4, 9:30 - Denmark - Bulgaria
6 January, 13.00 - U.S. - Bulgaria

The tournament was held for the first time in 1988 and named after its founder, Harry Hopman (1906-1985), Australian athlete and coach, led Australia to 15 titles in the Cup, "Davis" for the period 1938-1969 year. "Hopman Cup" is now administered by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which along with it posavya Cup "Davis" and "Fed Cup." Under the "umbrella" of the ITF are more Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic.

In the history of the race involved 21 riders took the first prize in the position of the ATP and WTA, including legends like Boris Becker, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and John McEnroe. Stars such as Roger Federer, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Novak Djokovic have used "Hopman Cup" as a springboard for his brilliant career. The last winner of the race in 2011 was the U.S. team consisting of John and Bethany Isnar Matek-Sands, which are imposed in the final over Belgium 2-1.

Participants in the 24th edition of "The Hopman Cup":

Group "A":
Czech Republic (Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych)
USA (Bethany Matek-Sands and Mardy Fish)
Denmark (Frederick and Caroline Wozniacki Nielsen)
Bulgaria (Tsvetana Pironkova and Grigor Dimitrov)
Group "B":
France (Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet)
Spain (Anabel Medina Garrigues and Fernando Verdasco)
Australia (Jarmila Gaydoshova and Lleyton Hewitt)
China (Li and Wu Di)