Stars of world tennis in Astana

Astana, 5 July 2008, Khabar - Nursultan Nazarbayev opens new tennis courts. Nursultan Nazarbayev has opened Kazakhstan's first ever national tennis centre.

World-famous tennis player Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and Janko
Tipsarevic from Serbia will test the indoor courts first by demonstrating a
show match. The 2500-seater complex has three training grounds apart from
the main court - all fully meeting all international requirements and will
be the home arena for the Kazakhstan international tennis team. Moreover,
the courts are open for all who like playing tennis. Ahead of the opening
ceremony for the National Tennis Complex, the tennis stars gave a press
conference.

Before the show match in Astana, Marcos Baghdatis and Janko
Tipsarevic had met twice with the Cypriot taking wins in both. The main aim
of the star guests is to show how real professionals play. Despite being a
non-official game, people in Kazakhstan can enjoy the game between Baghdatis
and Tipsarevic tonight at 11:35pm Astana time.

Meanwhile, Cyprus and Serbia
still do not have necessary conditions to support professional players which
is why they have to train abroad.

Janko Tipsarevic, tennis player:
- Your president loves tennis and he plays it. My friends Mario Ancic and
Ivan Ljubicic had some assistance from the president when they were young
players because our president loved tennis. It is good that you have opened
a tennis centre especially on your holiday.

Marcos Baghdatis, tennis player:
- I am happy to be here at the time you are celebrating Astana's 10th
birthday. As far as I know, it is the youngest capital in the world. We also
say that the decision to move the capital to this city was the right one.
(Khabar Agency)