After three years of first-round exits at her hometown WTA event, Erakovic will be back out on court today in the second round of the ASB Classic.

Standing at just 1.72m and weighing 56kg, Agnieszka Radwanska is one of the smallest players on the women's tennis tour and plays a game to match.

Sasha McEwen, 15, will be spending the next five days picking up tennis balls and handing out towels to sweaty women under the blistering sun.

Onny Parun has backed the decision not to award main draw wildcards to local players.

Global tennis star Rafael Nadal is being lined up to play in the Auckland tennis open next month, nine years after he appeared on the backcourts as a virtual unknown.

She's won more than US$11 million in prize money, made the final at Wimbledon this year and is clearly the class act of the ASB Classic field, but the world's fourth-best female tennis player Agnieszka Radwanska is hardly a household name in New Zealand.

A year on from her summer from hell and Samantha Stosur says there's no reason why she can't bounce back and win the Australian Open.

An Auckland summer of tennis in need of a bit of star quality has received a nice little dollop, with colourful Frenchman Gael Monfils accepting a wildcard entry into the Heineken Open.

Olivier Rochus has been handed a wildcard to next month's Heineken Open but there's a possibility that no Kiwis will feature in the main draw.