week |5| ATP : Milan, Delray Beach, Vina Del Mar

[BelgiumDude]

Milan 9 WD's + 2
1 Hrbaty, Dominik SVK 14
2 Ljubicic, Ivan CRO 22
3 Davydenko, Nikolay RUS 28
4 Ancic, Mario CRO 29
5 Johansson, Thomas SWE 30
6 Stepanek, Radek CZE 33
7 Soderling, Robin SWE 34
8 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 39
9 Llodra, Michael FRA 41
10 Schuettler, Rainer GER 42
11 Beck, Karol SVK 44
12 Berdych, Tomas CZE 45
13 Rusedski, Greg GBR 46
14 Mirnyi, Max BLR 47
15 Andreev, Igor RUS 50
16 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 52 : replaced by (LL) Mackin, Alan GBR
17 Schalken, Sjeng NED 57
18 Koubek, Stefan AUT 60
19 Karlovic, Ivo CRO 61
20 Arazi, Hicham MAR 62
21 Benneteau, Julien FRA 65
22 Rochus, Olivier BEL 66
23 Muller, Gilles LUX 69
24 (SE)
25 (SE)
26 (WC) Seppi, Andreas ITA
27 (WC) Monfils, Gael FRA
28 (WC) Pavel, Andrei ROM
29 (Q) Galimberti, Giorgio ITA
30 (Q) Vico, Uros ITA
31 (Q) Bracciali, Daniele ITA
32 (Q) Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR

Alternates
IN Bjorkman, Jonas SWE 70
IN Enqvist, Thomas SWE 72
IN Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 86
IN Carraz, Gregory FRA 90
IN Hanescu, Victor ROM 92
OUT Haehnel, Jerome FRA 93
OUT Tabara, Michal CZE 98
OUT Burgsmuller, Lars GER 100
IN Clement, Arnaud FRA 106
OUT Gasquet, Richard FRA 107
IN Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 110
IN Rochus, Christophe BEL 113
OUT Elseneer, Gilles BEL 120
OUT Zib, Tomas CZE 121
IN Heuberger, Ivo SUI 124
OUT Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 129
OUT Mahut, Nicolas FRA 131
OUT Lisnard, Jean-Rene FRA 132
OUT Thomann, Nicolas FRA @132
OUT Puerta, Mariano ARG 133
OUT Waske, Alexander GER 134
OUT Peya, Alexander AUT 135
OUT Phau, Bjorn GER 136
IN Aldi, Francesco ITA 138
IN Behrend, Tomas GER 139

Delray Beach 8 WD's + 2
1 Spadea, Vincent USA 20
2 Novak, Jiri CZE 24
3 Malisse, Xavier BEL 48
4 Saulnier, Cyril FRA 53
5 Mello, Ricardo BRA 71
6 Sargsian, Sargis ARM 75
7 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 77
8 Labadze, Irakli GEO 78 : replaced by (LL) Delgado, Ramon PAR
9 Dupuis, Antony FRA 79
10 Sluiter, Raemon NED 82
11 Hernych, Jan CZE 83
12 Carlsen, Kenneth DEN 84
13 Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 87
14 Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 88
15 Wessels, Peter NED 89
16 Kim, Kevin USA 94
17 Gambill, Jan-Michael USA 95
18 Morrison, Jeff USA 96
19 Blake, James USA 97
20 Arthurs, Wayne AUS 101
21 Gimelstob, Justin USA @107
22 Mutis, Olivier FRA 108
23 van Scheppingen, Dennis NED 112
24 (SE)
25 (SE)
26 (WC) Widom, Todd USA
27 (WC) Nunez, Eric USA
28 (WC) Odesnik, Wayne USA
29 (Q) Sun, Peng CHN
30 (Q) Boeker, Matias USA
31 (Q) Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS
32 (Q) Vahaly, Brian USA

Alternates
OUT Rochus, Christophe BEL 113
OUT Vliegen, Kristof BEL 116
OUT Patience, Olivier FRA 119
IN Zib, Tomas CZE 121
OUT Heuberger, Ivo SUI 124
OUT Reid, Todd AUS 126
OUT Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 129
OUT Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 130
OUT Lisnard, Jean-Rene FRA 132
OUT Thomann, Nicolas FRA @132
OUT Puerta, Mariano ARG 133
OUT Waske, Alexander GER 134
OUT Peya, Alexander AUT 135
OUT Phau, Bjorn GER 136
IN Moodie, Wesley RSA 137
OUT Aldi, Francesco ITA 138
OUT Behrend, Tomas GER 139
OUT Okun, Noam ISR 141
OUT Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 142
IN Salzenstein, Jeff USA 144
OUT Bracciali, Daniele ITA 147
IN Karanusic, Roko CRO 148
IN Weiner, Glenn USA 152
OUT Hippensteel, KJ USA 156
OUT Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 158
OUT Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 159
IN Kendrick, Robert USA 160
IN Armando, Hugo USA 161
OUT Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 163
IN Guzman, Juan-Pablo ARG 164
OUT Norman, Dick BEL 166
OUT Kratochvil, Michel SUI 167
IN Dancevic, Frank CAN 171
IN Delic, Amer USA 173

Vina Del Mar 3 WD + 2
1 Massu, Nicolas CHI 19
2 Gonzalez, Fernando CHI 23
3 Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG 26
4 Horna, Luis PER 38
5 Volandri, Filippo ITA 43
6 Ferrer, David ESP 49
7 Zabaleta, Mariano ARG 54
8 Calleri, Agustin ARG 58
9 Acasuso, Jose ARG 67
10 Monaco, Juan ARG 73
11 Sanchez, David ESP 74
12 Starace, Potito ITA 76
13 Calatrava, Alex ESP 81
14 Hernandez, Oscar ESP 85
15 Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA @85
16 Montanes, Albert ESP 99
17 Mantilla, Felix ESP 102
18 Almagro, Nicolas ESP 103
19 Ventura, Santiago ESP 104
20 Saretta, Flavio BRA 111
21 Vanek, Jiri CZE 115
22 Tipsarevic, Janko SCG 117
23 Garcia, Adrian CHI 118
24 (SE)
25 (SE)
26 (WC) Parada, Felipe CHI
27 (WC) Corretja, Alex ESP
28 (WC) Gaudio, Gaston ARG
29 (Q) Luczak, Peter AUS
30 (Q) Luzzi, Federico ITA
31 (Q) Harboe, Phillip CHI
32 (Q) Portas, Albert ESP

Alternates
IN Patience, Olivier FRA 119
OUT Zib, Tomas CZE 121
IN Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 122
IN Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 129
IN Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 130
IN Puerta, Mariano ARG 133

[BelgiumDude]

The Vina Del Mar-entry list still hasn't come out.
As soon as I receive it, I will post it!

Greetings
BD

[Tennis724]

I would imagine that Alex would play Delray Beach. I finally got my answers about Adelaide & Sydney so I'll wait for Del Ray. But it's interesting how he isn't showing up on any alternate lists

[Alex71]

Andreas Seppi has the first wild card for Milan.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Still no news on the Vina del Mar entry list. Strange!

Jay

[Adolfo']

http://diario.elmercurio.com/2004/12/23 ... 32.htm?id={8B14245C-453A-4D9F-AB2C-C98F55DCAC32}

[Nathaliia]

Knowing who plays over there, I know who won't come to the challenger in my city Wroclaw 75.000$ + H. Thank you.

[Guest]

Felipe Parada (CHI) has got a WC in Vina del Mar

[Kasia]

I guess you can cross out Koubek, 'cos he's forbidden to play 'till 21 March and I doubt his appeal would help him much...

[Nathaliia]

There are some speculations about the WC going to Marcelo Rios (who defeated Guillermo Coria 6:4 7:5 last week, in his last - ??? - official match).
I speculate the last 2 cards may go to Julio Peralta / Paul Capdeville / Guillermo Hormazabal. Or Chino Rios, of course

[ToniX]

Alex Corretja (ESP) recive a WC in Vina del Mar

[Patrik77]

Thomas Johansson has withdrawn from Milan

[Björki]

>> Thomas Johansson has withdrawn from Milan Sad

why? So Jonas is in

[Patrik77]

>> Thomas Johansson has withdrawn from Milan Sad

why? So Jonas is in

He doesn´t want his groin injury to get worse after all his long matches in AO, will take that week to rest and to see a doctor for medical examination and hopefully be back for Marseille. Björkman would have been in anyway (2 SE spots that won´t be used)

[Alex71]

Massu is out for this tournament and for the others before davis cup! Nicolas has had one microinvoice to the foot in the match against the
German in Australian Open.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots to be cleared)
OUT: T.Johansson, Koubec, O.Rochus
IN: Bjorkman, Enqvist, Ulihrach
NEXT: Carraz, Hanescu, Haehnel, Tabara, Burgsmuller, Clement, Gasquet, Sanguinetti

Delray Beach (2 SE spots to be cleared)
OUT: J.Nieminen (and Reid from ALT)
IN: C.Rochus
NEXT: Vliegen, Patience, Zib, Heuberger, Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Lisnard, Thomann

Vina Del Mar (2 SE spots to be cleared)
No changes yet.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Here are the doubles direct entries. The list comes out two weeks ahead.
(The sum of the individual ranks are at the end of the lines)

Delray Beach, USA
Draw Size = 16 Teams (8 Doubles Acceptances+ 6 Singles entries + 2 WC)
Cut Off: 148

1 Simon Aspelin (SWE) 36 Todd Perry (AUS) 33 69
2 Rick Leach (USA) 46 Brian MacPhie (USA) 50 96
3 Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE) 56 Jiri Novak (CZE) 47 103
4 Jordan Kerr (AUS) 59 Jim Thomas (USA) 62 121
5 Justin Gimelstob (USA) 63 Graydon Oliver (USA) 58 121
6 Jeff Coetzee (RSA) 69 Travis Parrot (USA) 64 133
7 Karsten Braasch (GER) 70 Tomas Cibulec (CZE) 72 142
8 Andre Sa (BRA) 77 Rogier Wassen (NED) 71 148
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Milan, Italy
Draw Size = 16 Teams (8 Doubles Acceptances+ 6 Singles entries + 2 WC)
Cut Off: 111

1 Michael Llodra (FRA) 12 Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 11 23
2 Cyril Suk (CZE) 18 Pavel Vizner (CZE) 20 38
3 Martin Damm (CZE) 19 Radek Stepanek (CZE) 37 56
4 Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 32 Andy Ram (ISR) 34 66
5 Julian Knowle (AUT) 30 Petr Pala (CZE) 42 72
6 Yves Allegro (SUI) 40 Michael Kohlmann (GER) 39 79
7 Chris Haggard (RSA) 49 Robbie Koenig (RSA) 57 106
8 Jean-Francois Bachelot (FRA) 82 Arnaud Clement (FRA) 29 111
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vina del Mar, Chile
Draw Size = 16 Teams (8 Doubles Acceptances+ 6 Singles entries + 2 WC)
Cut Off: 202

1 Gaston Etlis (ARG) 17 Martin Rodriguez (ARG) 15 32
2 Frantisek Cermak (CZE) 27 Leos Friedl (CZE) 24 51
3 Lucas Arnold (ARG) 28 Mariano Hood (ARG) 25 53
4 Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL) 52 Marcin Matkowski (POL) 53 105
5 Sebastian Prieto (ARG) 55 Flavio Saretta (BRA) 84 139
6 Ota Fukarek (CZE) 93 David Skoch (CZE) 73 166
7 Enzo Artoni (ITA) 80 Ignacio Gonzalez King (ARG) 104 184
8 Stephen Huss (AUS) 108 Johan Landsberg (SWE) 94 202
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jay

[Patrik77]

Thanks for good service Jay!

[etb76]

When are the Wild Cards gonna be announced for Delray Beach?

[Shhh]

I have only read this on another message board but I believe Andrew Murray has been given a w/c for Vina del Mar (????)

[Fee]

I'm almost positive you've transposed the Delray and Vina Del Mar doubles lists. I don't think Justin will play singles at one and doubles at the other (also, Leach/MacPhie, J. Thomas, T Parrot are more likely to play at home in the US).

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" .. .. I see no problem above! .. del ray, del mar .. what's the difference! .. Thanks Fiona - edited it .. Jay

[PatatRiek]

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots to be cleared)
OUT: O.Rochus

hope he's just tired and not injured.... thanks for the update Jay

best wishes
PatatRiek

ps : i'm wondering; do we have candidates to fiill the SE spots?

edit BelgiumDude : don't worry PatatRiek, Oli is just resting a bit (13 single-matches already this year!) He'll be back in Marseille normally.

[Erikslomp]

Don't think so, only seeded players left in AusOpen.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: T.Johansson, Koubec, O.Rochus (and Haehnel, Tabara, Burgsmuller from ALT)
IN: Bjorkman, Enqvist, Ulihrach, Carraz, Hanescu
NEXT: Clement, Gasquet, Sanguinetti, C.Rochus, Elseneer, Zib, Heuberger, Garcia-Lopez

Delray Beach (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Hernych, J.Nieminen, Sargsian (and Vliegen, Reid from ALT)
IN: C.Rochus, Patience, Zib, Heuberger, Garcia-Lopez
NEXT: Ramirez-Hidalgo, Lisnard, Thomann, Puerta, Waske, Peya, Phau, Moodie

Vina Del Mar (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Massu
IN: Patience, Zib, Lapentti
NEXT: Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta, Waske, Peya, Aldi, Behrend, Chiudinelli

I think there will be some more shakeups soon, seeing the same names in multiple lists ..

Jay

[Fee]

You crack me up Jay!!! Thanks for the updates.

[PatatRiek]

Thanks for the good news BD (re : Ollie)

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots cleared)
NEXT: Clement, Gasquet, Sanguinetti, C.Rochus, Elseneer, Zib, Heuberger, Garcia-Lopez

Gasquet & Elseneer are going to play the Andreaux challenger next week, so I assume we can remove them from NEXT list?

thanks a lot for the updates....

ciao
PatatRiek

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Davydenko, T.Johansson, Koubec, O.Rochus (and Haehnel, Tabara, Burgsmuller from ALT)
IN: Bjorkman, Enqvist, Ulihrach, Carraz, Hanescu, Clement
NEXT: Gasquet, Sanguinetti, C.Rochus, Elseneer, Zib, Heuberger, Garcia-Lopez

Delray Beach (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Hernych, J.Nieminen, Sargsian, Sluiter (and Vliegen, Patience, Reid, Garcia-Lopez, Lisnard, Thomann, Waske, Peya, Phau from ALT)
IN: C.Rochus, Zib, Heuberger, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta, Moodie
NEXT: Aldi, Behrend, Okun, Chiudinelli, Salzenstein, Bracciali, Karanusic, Weiner

Vina Del Mar (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Chela, Massu, Horna (and Zib, Waske, Peya, Chiudinelli from ALT)
IN: Patience, Lapentti, Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta
NEXT: Aldi, Behrend, Salzenstein, Bracciali, Karanusic, Lopez, Luczak, DiMauro

Jay

[Tennis724]

When will we know about WCs for Del Ray?

[Patrik77]

Updates:

Delray Beach (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Hernych, J.Nieminen, Sargsian, Sluiter (and Vliegen, Patience, Reid, Garcia-Lopez, Lisnard, Thomann, Waske, Peya, Phau from ALT)
IN: C.Rochus, Zib, Heuberger, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta, Moodie
NEXT: Aldi, Behrend, Okun, Chiudinelli, Salzenstein, Bracciali, Karanusic, Weiner

Vina Del Mar (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Chela, Massu, Horna (and Zib, Waske, Peya, Chiudinelli from ALT)
IN: Patience, Lapentti, Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta
NEXT: Aldi, Behrend, Salzenstein, Bracciali, Karanusic, Lopez, Luczak, DiMauro

Jay

In this case two players (R-Hidalgo and Puerta) are in in both Delray and Vina, do they now have to chose themselves which one of the two tournaments they gonna enter and when do they have to tell that to ATP?

[seb]

In this case two players (R-Hidalgo and Puerta) are in in both Delray and Vina, do they now have to chose themselves which one of the two tournaments they gonna enter and when do they have to tell that to ATP?

Good question.
There is an order of priority, at least for ITF tournaments:
1/ highest position in the entry list
2/ most important prize money
3/ geographicaly closest location to player's residence

I don't know if it is applicable to ATP Tour.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

I think ATP simply talks to the players before fixing them into the proper events. They will keep a player in the list for an event that they had given higher priority to, even if they make the "IN" list of another event, unless they hear from them that they would like to be taken out of the waiting list because they made another event. If they make the IN list of an event they had highest priority on, I think they are automatically removed from the waiting list of the others. Basically ATP calls up and talks to players, from what I understand.

I have been quite impressed with how ATP orchestrates this -- I am sure some players sometimes get annoyed when ATP would call thursday or friday morning and say "Tell us NOW! where are you going? - we want to take you out of the other ALT list, because so-and-so behind in the list ready to buy an airticket and go there to take a chance; what do you want to do?" .. Often, the players want to keep their options open till the last minute for a higher-priority event they *might* make into in the last day. But really, we can see that ATP has no choice but to put their foot down and force the players to decide fast where they are going, to make sure that somebody or other would show up on time for them to make a main draw list by Friday night with a reasonable probablity of avoiding no-shows. They do a pretty good job of it, I think.

Jay

[Alex71]

Ramirez Hidalgo e Puerta are playing in Chile (Santiago) now, i don't think that they'll go in USA to play in Delray but stay in Chile to play in Vina del Mar, also why to they it appeals to play on clay that on hard.

[Fee]

Jay,
I have a Doubles question for you. Justin G. hurt his back in Hawaii and will most likely pull from Delray. He and Graydon had entry as a Doubles team. Will Graydon have to withdraw from the Top 8, then sign in for the Doubles draw with all the other guys?

Thanks.

[Olimar]

I read that Hrbaty is OUT from Milan !!

Gasquet had an injury, didn't he?

So, Dado Sanguinetti would be IN !!

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Fiona: I actually don't remember the withdrawal rules they put in for the early entry list when they started it recently. Let me find out...

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Arazi, Berdych, Davydenko, Hrbaty, T.Johansson, Koubec, Melzer, O.Rochus, Rusedski (and Haehnel, Tabara, Burgsmuller, Gasquet, Elseneer, Zib, Garcia-Lopez, Mahut, Lisnard, Thomann, Waske from ALT)
IN: Bjorkman, Enqvist, Ulihrach, Carraz, Hanescu, Clement, Sanguinetti, C.Rochus, Heuberger, Puerta, Peya
NEXT: Phau, Aldi, Behrend, Ascione, Okun, Chiudinelli, Salzenstein, Seppi

Delray Beach (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Dupuis, Hernych, Lu, J.Nieminen, Sargsian, Sluiter (and C.Rochus, Vliegen, Patience, Heuberger, Reid, Garcia-Lopez, Lisnard, Thomann, Waske, Peya, Phau, Okun, Chiudinelli, Kunitsyn, Baghdatis from ALT)
IN: Zib, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta, Moodie, Aldi, Behrend, Salzenstein, Bracciali
NEXT: Karanusic, Weiner, Hippensteel, Kendrick, Armando, J-B.Guzman, Kratochvil, Dancevic

Vina Del Mar (2 SE spots cleared)
OUT: Chela, Massu, Horna (and Zib, Waske, Peya, Chiudinelli from ALT)
IN: Patience, Lapentti, Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta
NEXT: Aldi, Behrend, Salzenstein, Bracciali, Karanusic, Lopez, Luczak, DiMauro, Massa, Armando, J-B.Guzman, Kratochvil, Dancevic, Blaco, Portas

So, a whole lot more of changes.

I have a question -- is there some sort of a program that goes in and enters Arazi every week and then withdraws his name only on the last day? .. He has only played 4 events in the last six months but his name is there every week in the list .. I like Arazi - I hope he plays one of these days again.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Fiona: Here are the rules on medical withdrawals in thed oubles early entry list.

1.a) Advance Doubles Entry Team. If one player withdraws, his partner will have until 6 PM Saturday local time prior to the main draw to find a partner with a sufficient doubles ranking to keep the team within the original cut. In case the player does not find a partner or in case the team withdraws, the position that became vacant will be filled by the highest team on the on-site alternate sign-in sheet, using the doubles combined ranking.
2) If a player from a team that is a direct acceptance either in the main draw or qualifying withdraws based on a medical reason or other unavoidable circumstances after the on-site sign-in deadline but before the draw, his partner may enter again with another player who has not already been accepted into the qualifying or main draw doubles event. This new team may be considered for acceptance based on its position in the appropriate list including any Entry Protection position.

Greydon was 58, Justin was 63 and the cut was 148 .. So, if Greydon can find somebody ranked inside top-90 last week to play with (by tomorrow evening) he can play doubles at delRay. Or he can sign-in with some singles player for the remaining spots.

Jay

[Fee]

Thanks Jay, you rock my (tennis) world!

[tennisfan82]

Milan' WC

1)Monfils
2)Pavel
3)if Seppi will enter in MD,maybe Bracciali

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Updates:

Milan (2 SE spots cleared) CUTS: Intitial - 69, Final - 139
OUT: Arazi, Berdych, Davydenko, Hrbaty, T.Johansson, Koubec, Melzer, O.Rochus, Rusedski (and Haehnel, Tabara, Burgsmuller, Gasquet, Elseneer, Zib, Garcia-Lopez, Mahut, Lisnard, Thomann, Puerta, Waske, Peya, Phau, Ascione, Okun, Chiudinelli, Salzenstein from ALT)
IN: Bjorkman, Enqvist, Ulihrach, Carraz, Hanescu, Clement, Sanguinetti, C.Rochus, Heuberger, Aldi, Behrend
NEXT: Seppi, Bracciali, Karanusic, Kunitsyn

Delray Beach (2 SE spots cleared) CUTS: Initial - 112, Final -173
OUT: Arthurs, Dupuis, Gimelstob, Hernych, Lu, J.Nieminen, Sargsian, Sluiter (and C.Rochus, Vliegen, Patience, Heuberger, Reid, Garcia-Lopez, Lisnard, Thomann, Waske, Peya, Phau, Aldi, Behrend, Okun, Chiudinelli, Bracciali, Hippensteel, Kunitsyn, Baghdatis, Tsonga, Norman, Kratochvil from ALT)
IN: Zib, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta, Moodie, Salzenstein, Karanusic, Weiner, Kendrick, Armando, J-B.Guzman, Dancevic, Delic
NEXT: J.Vacek, Baker, Sa, Parmar, Goldstein, Roger-vasselin

Vina Del Mar (2 SE spots cleared) -- CUTS: Initial - 118, Final - 133
OUT: Chela, Horna, Massu (and Zib, Waske, Peya, Chiudinelli from ALT)
IN: Patience, Lapentti, Garcia-Lopez, Ramirez-Hidalgo, Puerta
NEXT: Aldi, Behrend, Salzenstein, Bracciali, Karanusic, Lopez, Luczak

I cannot believe how many players withdrew from everywhere this week. Terrible. Delray beach lost so many players. Many in the ALT would have been willing to go had they known there woul dbe so many withdrawals I am sure. Milan cut dropped like a rock. Vina Del Mar ended up having the highest final cut I guess ..

Jay

[Guest]

Do reasons have to be given for these withdrawals or can players just say that they are not coming? Specifically, is it known why Rusedski withdrew from Milan?

[R. Jayakrishnan]

They have to give a medical reason for withdrawals (if they were in the initial entry list), or they will pay a lot of fines. I suppose medicals are not too difficult to get ... Even things like visa problems or air travel problems are not acceptable as withdrawal reasons.

Those in the ALT list can simply say they can't go. In this case a few of the ALT players were cut out because they had entered challengers instead, thinking they wouldn't make the tour event entry.

Jay

[Tennis724]

Even things like visa problems or air travel problems are not acceptable as withdrawal reasons.

That's seems a little extreme because both of those things can be out of a person's control

[Pringle]

Wayne Odesnik, Todd Widom and Eric Nunez are confirmed as the Delray Wildcards.

[Guest]

Gaston Gaudio = WC in Vina del Mar

[R. Jayakrishnan]

True, Tennis714 .. But that is how it is .. You better plan early and have the visas and tickets all taken care of. Or you will pay fine which is not really that small either. Basically the Americans and Europeans (I guess players from most of the richer countries) have a very easy time traveling anywhere in the last minute and playing, but those from Africa, India, Thailand, China, Indonesia, the Middle East, and much of South America etc, cannot do that because of serious visa issues.

Whoever said that the tennis tour is fair, anyway!

But I think ATP and ITF probably do retain the right to waive the fine in some extreme cases if you keep them posted on the visa problem (they are also willing to send a fax or two to immigration offices, though that often doesn't count for much). You cannot just call up on Friday and say you have not got the visa and can't go, I believe. Basically ITF/ATP has made it clear and the players know that asking for mercy from ITF/WTA is not a standard option.

Jay