Sydney Int'l Organizers Hoping To Draw Andy Murray For Tournament Starting Jan. 5

Brisbane's loss "could be Sydney's gain," as organizers in Sydney "seek out Wimbledon champion Andy Murray to gauge his interest in hitting off his new season further south," according to Margie McDonald of THE AUSTRALIAN. Murray has played and "won the past two Brisbane Internationals but is on the recovery trail from back surgery in September." Murray will "likely bypass Brisbane in the new year." Brisbane Tournament Dir Cameron Pearson will nonetheless "keep a wildcard available for him until the last minute." Sydney Int'l CEO Craig Watson, however, hopes the "extra week -- Brisbane starts on December 29 but Sydney not until January 5 -- will tempt Murray to play on the Ken Rosewall Arena for the first time." Watson: "I'd love for that to happen. And it's the same procedure for us, in the sense that we'd keep a wildcard open as long as we could" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 11/22).