Ivanisevic swaps army fatigues for tennis shirt

Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic plays in his first tournament since starting compulsory Croatian military service when the 2002 Qatar Open gets underway on Monday.

The 30-year-old, who ended the year as 13th in the world, is serving a six-month stint as a soldier but is allowed to train, travel and compete in tennis tournaments.

Ivanisevic, who beat Patrick Rafter to win his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July, is seeded two in Doha. He plays Austria's Stefan Koubek in the first round and will be wary of his opening round loss to Frenchman Julien Boutter in the same tournament a year ago.

Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov faces Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic in his first round match. The Russian also has Moroccan Younes Al Aynaoui and French wild card Cedric Pioline, who meet each other, and former champion Rainer Schuttler of Germany in his half of the draw.

The bottom half includes last year's runner-up Czech Bohdan Ulihrach and former world number four Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden who will be making his debut in Doha.

Kafelnikov has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open, something he is keen to put right this time.

"I am determined to start the season on a winning note. The first tournament is always important as it is the key to the rest of the season," he said.

VERY KEEN
"I had a very good season last year and I hope I can carry it on to the new season. I am also very keen to see that I live up to the expectations of the Doha fans. I was very disappointed when I lost to (Bohdan) Ulihrach in the quarter-finals."

Ulihrach has fond memories of Doha after his run to the final, despite being a qualifier.

"I survived a couple of tough encounters in the qualifying rounds but I improved match after match. It was indeed a dream run," recalled Ulhirach, who lost the final in three sets to Chile's Marcelo Rios.

The Czech said that he hoped to break into the top 20 this year is keen to avoid building pressure on himself by setting targets.

"I want to make it to the top 20. I know it is not so easy. There are a lot of talented players on the Tour. But I will try and play my best because it is quality that counts more than quantity," he said.