Tennis: Kohlschreiber back for more

Last year's champion Philipp Kohlschreiber will return to the Heineken Open in January.

Currently ranked 27th in the world, the German pulled out of the Heineken quarter-final this year with an injury to his right shoulder.

Tournament director Richard Palmer says getting him back adds polish to what is shaping as a strong draw.

"He's won it before and has been as high as 22 in the world and has had quite a good year. At the French Open he got to the fourth round, beating Novak Djokovic and Juan Carlos Ferrero on the way."

Kohlschreiber's return follows the confirmed attendance of Spaniards Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer and Ferrero at 16, 18 and 23 in the world respectively with former number three David Nalbandian - now 65th - also signed up.

It's a complicated jigsaw for Palmer to piece together. The process starts with him sitting down and logging on to a secret website where the computer then tells him how his recruitment prospects are faring. He says his punts for players are looking sound ahead of the official announcement on Wednesday.

"Players put you down as a first or second choice as we go up against the other tournaments on at the same time in Australia. Up until about Tuesday they can chop and change.

"What then happens is after the official close-off, players that have missed out on their first choice can be contacted via their agents and asked if they want to change their first option. They've basically got a working day to make those decisions before we can name our field."

Palmer has 19 direct acceptances into the 28-seed draw with the rest made up of qualifying places, wildcard entries and special exemptions.

' "We're not going to get a top 10 player but we're likely to have close to a third of the top 60 players in the world. Of those who have us as their number one choice, there are five or six in the top 30.

In fact I'm reasonably confident of getting over 10 players in the top 40. Last year we only had five. If you compare that to, say, golf - the New Zealand Open's likely to beat the drums if they get three players in the top 100."

Palmer says he has used the Australian Open starting later in the month as a lure but it's not always successful.

"What you find is with tournaments in the likes of Abu Dhabi, Chennai and Dubai, players are getting paid US$500,000 to enter them, so they line their pockets and go straight to Melbourne. There's no way we can compete with that sort of money. And to be fair to them it's not worth coming here for $50,000 to $70,000.

"So it means you're always scanning the rankings, looking for players who have an X-factor like Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, up-and-comers capable of going into the top 10.

"For instance we got [2009 winner] Juan Martin del Potro this year and now he's won a grand slam. We pushed the boat out for him more than any other player but it wasn't possible."

Palmer says others simply don't want to play another tournament a week before a grand slam.

"We get the excuse of 'I don't want another flight, got to go through customs', all that sort of nonsense from those who would rather just settle in to Australia. It's counter-acted by being one of the few pre-grand slam events of the year and most players are coming off a break."