The first week of official tennis saw a great number of tournaments, official and otherwise being held.

For those that skipped last week’s event in Abu Dhabi which, to be fair, only invited 6 players, this was the first week to see how December training turned out.

Long criticized for his passive hitting style, Andy Murray has opted to play a Davis Cup-style exhibition, the Hopman Cup.  The Hopman Cup does pretty well given its unusual format.  One man, one woman, each playing singles, then playing mixed doubles.  There is a round-robin phase followed by single elimination.

Andy Murray normally plays Doha where top players are still playing.  However, this year, perhaps to support countrywoman Laura Robson, the 15 year old Brit that won Wimbledon, or perhaps to play in Australia rather than the middle east, Murray is the highest ranked player (at 4, soon to drop to 5) to play in the Hopman Cup.

The observant fan will notice what Andy Murray is wearing.  Last year, Murray wore Fred Perry clothing and it coincided with the 100th anniversary of Perry’s birth.  However, Adidas may have had a far more lucrative clothing deal, so Murray found himself wearing new duds for a new tennis season and joining the Adidas folks.  Djokovic (who isn’t playing this week) has allegedly signed a deal with Sergio Tachhini (McEnroe wore their clothes early in his career before switching to Nike) and has left Adidas.

Yesterday’s Hopman Cup matches featured Great Britain vs. Germany.  German’s representatives were Sabine Lisicki, she of the big serve, and Philipp Kohlschreiber.  Kohlschreiber can be a tough player–he took out Novak Djokovic in the French, but there’s a lack of precise hitting in his game.  He has some power, but lacks good consistency.  Even so, Murray found himself in a tough fight in the first set against Kohlschreiber.  He broke him early only to be broken back, then broke again to take the first set, 6-4.

The second set was not so close as Murray took control of the set and won it 6-1.

So how is Andy Murray playing?  Early in the match, Murray avoided hitting many slice backhands.  Last year, Murray hit a lot more slice backhands.  That may have been due to his wrist issues, but it’s possible that the off-season was spent trying to address his “weakness”.  Murray has worked on his aggression, especially hitting a hard down-the-line shot.  He’s learning to take the net at opportune moments.  Murray seems to play his best tennis, in terms of quality hitting, early in the year.  The question is whether he can continue this hitting injury free this year.

The first real week of tennis saw men playing all over.  In Chennai, India, Robin Soderling, recent top 10 entrant, found himself on the losing end against Robby Ginepri.  Soderling is the top seed with defending chamption, Marin Cilic, the second seed.

Most of the heavy hitters have gone to Doha.  For an ATP 250 event, they must spend the bucks to encourage the best players to play.  This includes world number 1, Roger Federer, world number 2, Rafael Nadal, and world number 6, Nikolay Davydenko.  Roger Federer should be playing with his new BLX racquet.  Photos from January tournaments show him playing with his new stick.

The other event being held is in Brisbane where world number 7, Andy Roddick is the top seed, and world number 12, Radek Stepanek, is the number 2 seed.  Roddick hasn’t played since retiring in Shanghai due to injury and had been recovering and training during the end of 2009.  Roddick’s goals in 2010 is similar to what it has been.  Play well enough to contend for Slams.

Next week, two more ATP 250 events closer the Melbourne (site of the Australian Open).  They are Sydney and Auckland (New Zealand).  Most of the top players prefer to take a week off prior to the Australian Open to do final tune-up.