Kiwis back Anderson’s Open attack

JUST BECAUSE Marina Erakovic is out of the Australian Open doesn’t mean that the Kiwi involvement has ended.

Today Kevin Anderson takes on Tomaz Berdych from the Czech Republic in the fourth round. The South African has been working with New Zealand physio Murray Hing for a year and for the past two months has been coached by Aucklander GD Jones.

Jones, who met Anderson when they were both at the University of Illinois, is a former member of the New Zealand Davis Cup team. He stopped playing two years ago and initially became coach for his sister, Sacha, who now plays under an Australian flag.

But recently Jones moved to working with Anderson fulltime and is already having a big impact on his game.

Just before the Australian Open, Anderson made it to the final of the Sydney ATP tournament, losing to Bernard Tomic in the final and this is the furthest he has ever gone in a Grand Slam.

‘‘ It has been great so Anderson told Sunday News.

‘‘I have known GD for a long time and I have worked with him with bits and pieces since we left college, but this is the first time it’s been full on. He is a very thoughtful person and he has spent a lot of time thinking about areas where he can help me improve.

‘‘We’ve been working hard and it’s still early on, but so far I’ve been playing some good tennis.’’

Anderson says Jones has spent a lot of time with him working on his return of serve and movement from the baseline and these are clearly areas where he has improved.

Against Fernando Verdasco on Friday night, Anderson was impressive as he slugged it out over five sets to beat the Spaniard, not just relying on his big serve, but working his way into commanding positions in the points.

Travelling with two New Zealanders leads to plenty of banter about other sports, but Anderson says all of the bragging rights are with him right now. ‘‘ We are always giving each other a hard time, but I’ve got a big lead now because we crushed New Zealand in the cricket!’’ he said.

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