"We saw some great tennis from him in Australia," he said.
Li's retirement from tennis may have robbed Melbourne of a defending champion but it has given Kvitova a boost that could yet see her add to her two Wimbledon titles over the next fortnight.
That is the norm in tennis and cricket, where challenges in the bank have been known to be used frivolously rather than wasted.
I winced in sympathy at female tennis players who have their periods during Wimbledon, when they must wear white and are allowed one toilet break per set.
Back then cricket had only a few weeks of Grand Slam tennis with which to compete for the entire summer and a single screen on which most of our eyes remained focused, even during the adverts.
Solar Schools works differently in every school – they really make the project their own – from organising school discos and cake sales to a sponsored bungee jump and seven hour table tennis marathons.
The challenge for the youngsters, and the hurdle Australian tennis has been falling at, will be in translating success in the juniors to the senior ranks, according to Mal Anderson, who won the US championship in 1957.
Every judge worth listening to makes Djokovic favourite to win the final, favourite to win Wimbledon and favourite to add the US Open to his Australian title for the first grand slam sweep in tennis since Rod Laver's second one in 1969.
"My colleagues didn't know I was playing tennis," she said of her hotel course.
The book, Cameron: Practically a Conservative, describes how on a weekend Cameron may practice his game with a tennis machine he calls "the Clegger", after the deputy prime minister.
Chelsea became champions of Europe for the first time, Andy Murray reached the Wimbledon final then delivered the first men's single title at a major tennis championship for Britain in 76 years at the US Open.
