Ivan Ljubicic to fill 8th spot at Kooyong

Sydney: Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia will fill the eighth spot in this week's Kooyong Classic, joining 2008 Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic of Serbia and six other men in the exhibition tournament.

The field will be No. 3 Djokovic, fourth-ranked US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, Sweden's Robin Soderling (ranked 8), Spain's Fernando Verdasco (9), Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France (10), Fernando Gonzalez of Chile (11) and 18th-ranked Tommy Haas of Germany.

Roger Federer will not be playing at Kooyong for only the second time in the past seven years, deciding instead to practice ahead of the Australian Open, which begins Monday at the Melbourne Park.

Andy Murray of Britain will not officially be part of the Kooyong event but tournament promoter Colin Stubs has agreed to include the Scottish player on the program. Murray will play an exhibition match against an as-yet undecided opponent on Thursday.

Ljubicic will play the opening match on Wednesday against Del Potro, followed by Djokovic versus Haas. Gonzalez will then play Verdasco and Soderling takes on Tsonga.