Seven's summer of tennis - Seven West Media

COMMENTATOR
KERRYN
PRATT
COMMENTATOR
— MEDIBANK INTERNATIONAL
— AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Kerryn Pratt believes the Australian Open reflects the Aussie
way of life.
“It has a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, but knows when to get
serious!
“It hasn’t the tradition of Wimbledon, but it has that awesome
atmosphere created by the bands, beer, hot weather and the
fans in the Garden Square, enjoying watching a big match.
It’s also intriguing as it’s the first Slam of the year, with a lot
of unknown factors as to how players are going to shape up.
Also, as the players are just off a break, they’re fresher and
eager to get the year started positively.”
In the 2010 Open, Kerryn thinks Serena Williams will be the
force to be reckoned with on the women’s side.
“She will be looking to follow up last year’s two-Slam
performance with something even more dominant and
looking to redeem herself on the Grand Slam stage after her
damaging behavior at the US Open,” she says. “The returns of
Kim [Clijsters] and Justine [Henin] should provide Serena with
extra motivation. She ended the year with a bang winning the
tour championships, and if she’s healthy, I tip her to start the
year with another big win.”
Kerryn is tipping Novak Djokovic for the men’s title.
“There are a handful of men hard to go past, with [Nikolay]
Davydenko serving notice that he’s ready for a Grand Slam
win. [Roger] Federer has shown a few flaws, [Rafael] Nadal
had a tough second half of 2009 largely due to injuries and
out of [Juan Martin] Del Potro, [Andy] Murray and Djokovic,
I feel Novak may be the one ready to step up in Melbourne.
He finished the season tired but well, and should start 2010
rested and full of confidence.”
Kerryn is an accomplished former Australian tennis player. A
leading junior player, she represented the country at Junior
Wimbledon and won a tennis scholarship at the Australian
Institute of Sport from 1981-82. Kerryn went on to make the
last 16 in the Australian Open singles, was a semi-finalist in
the Australian Open doubles and at the Beckenham England
singles and was a finalist in the Queensland Open singles and
won the Australian Hardcourt doubles.
She has since achieved her Bachelor of Arts in sport studies,
spent 17 years as a television sports journalist and producer
and been a tennis commentator for Grand Slams and other
major events for the last eight years. She’s also been a
courtside TV host and interviewer at the Masters Cup tennis
and commentated tennis, badminton and softball for Seven at
the Athens and Beijing Olympics.