Ferrero Bounced in Opener at Masters Series Canada

Posted on July 27, 2004

Juan Carlos Ferrero's horrendous season continued Monday at the ATP Masters Series-Canada when the Spaniard was forced to retire with a back injury during his opening round match, serving at 2-3 in the first set against Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

It is a difficult beginning to the U.S. hardcourt swing for Ferrero, who last year reached the final at the US Open before losing to Andy Roddick.

"I hit a return and I started to feel it," Ferrero said. "When I was serving I felt I couldn't still play -- I hope to be ready for Cincinnati, but I don't know."

The No. 7 seed Ferrero received a back massage from the trainer, but retired just 36 minutes into the match. The loss dropped the Spaniard's win-loss record on the season to just 17-10, with a current standing at No. 21 on the ATP Race standings, which measures 2004-only performance.

Ferrero has played only 10 events this year, sidelined by a number of injuries resulting from overdoing it at the end of 2003. Last year the Spaniard ended 2003 in exhausting fashion by reaching the US Open final, playing the David Cup semifinals, reaching the final at the ATP Bangkok stop, winning the Masters Series-Madrid, and reaching the 3rd round at the Masters Series-Paris. Paris was where Ferrero reached his exhaustion point, the beginning of six "L"s in row to end the year, including three losses at the Masters Cup, and two in the Davis Cup final versus Australia.

"It's very strange because all my life I was, you know, physical guy with no important injuries," Ferrero said. "It has been quite a difficult year for me."

Seeds into the second round Monday were (14)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (d. Pavel), (16)Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse in three), and (10)Andre Agassi (d. Haas in three) in the nightcap, reversing the result of their last meeting.

Un-seeds into the second round were Spaniard David Ferrer (d. the Canuck (WC)Larose), Russian Igor Andreev (d. Sargsian in three), Swedes Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson (d. Llodra 6-1 in the third) and Robin Soderling (d. Enqvist), Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. Kratochvil in two tiebreaks), Frenchman Cyril Saulnier (d. the Canuck (WC)Nestor), Czech Jan Hernych (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze), former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten (d. Ginepri), and Spaniard Tommy Robredo (d. H.-T. Lee).

On tap today in Toronto are (9)Hewitt vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, (2)Roddick vs. (Q)Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, (15)Safin vs. Kiefer, (1)Federer vs. Arazi, (6)Nalbandian vs. Youzhny, (5)Henman vs. Zabaleta, D.Sanchez vs. (WC)Niemeyer, Spadea vs. (WC)Dancevic, (4)Moya vs. Verdasco in an all-Spanish, (3)Guillermo "El Fragile" Coria vs. Luis "Me So" Horna, Bjorkman vs. Novak, (8)Rainer "Shine" Schuettler vs. Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, (11)Gaudio vs. (Q)Reid, (12)Grosjean vs. Carraz in an all-French, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrabty vs. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, (13)Massu vs. Dent, (Q)Beck vs. Ljubicic, and Escude vs. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEWS
Three low-rent seeds were ejected on Day One in San Diego in (13)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (l. to (WC)Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad in three), (14)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (l. to Rubin), and (15)Francesca Schiavone (l. to Elena "Lina" Bovina in three).

The win was a rare one for Harkleroad, who has struggled with injuries and early-round losses for most of 2004.

Only one seed was on the winning side in (12)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Dechy).

Un-seeds into the second round were Aussie Alicia Molik (d. countrywoman Pratt), Kristina Brandi (d. Morigami in three), France's Marion Bartoli (d. Zuluaga), Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova (d. (Q)Irvin), (WC)Barbara "Now I Give a" Schett (d. (Q)Craybas in three), American (Q)Lilia Osterloh (d. Vento-Kabchi), Eleni Daniilidou (d. Raymond), and Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. Marrero).

On court today in San Diego are Martinez vs. Loit, Myskina vs. Schett, Serena vs. Jankovic, Venus vs. Dulko, Sharapova vs. Osterloh, Dementieva vs. Brandi, Shaughnessy vs. Asagoe, Frazier vs. Harkleroad, Zvonareva vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Strycova vs. Ruano Pascual, and Likhovtseva vs. Petrova.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
In addition to going for the gold on court in Athens, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer will apparently be encouraged to put in an Olympic performance in the bedroom with their girlfriends. Roddick, Federer, and the rest of the athletes at this year's Olympics will be given approximately 130,000 free condoms (not each). "The condoms will come in an individual pack, with an instruction leaflet in various languages," said a spokeswoman for Durex Greece. "We have discussed the numbers with the organizing committee and we think they are realistic as we know from previous Olympics that athletes do come into contact during the Games." According to Reuters, at the Sydney 2000 Games each competing athlete was given 51 condoms on arrival at the Olympic Village, but another 20,000 had to be shipped in when supplies began to run low. Perhaps the slogan for the games in Greece should be changed to "No Glove, No Love."...Just as the NFL's Ricky Williams shocked the sports world by announcing his retirement at age 27, will the Williams sisters, with their spate of injuries, end up likewise calling it an early career as their father has predicted? Discuss...17-year-old Maria Sharapova on her newfound level of fame since winning Wimbledon: "You have to be aware that everybody is following you and getting you in unexpected situations. It's just really tough. I have to be more careful, I guess; there are a lot of crazy people out there. But it's been fun."...Tim Henman on being slammed in Toronto this week for his 0-5 record in slam semifinals: "It depends which way you want to look at it. Unfortunately, the country I come from, we tend to look at it pretty negatively. It's a question of quantifying success and failure isn't it?"...One of Roger Federer's favorite players to watch is...himself: "I enjoy watching myself because my game is so different," he said after winning Wimbledon. "I like my technique. Everyone tells me that, and it's true."...Czech Martin Damm holds the honor of the all-time worst singles record at the MS-Canada at 0-8, with Canadian Frederic Niemeyer hot on his heels at 0-7...Prince put out a press release that they are the official racquet of Wimbledon, the movie. Congratulations. We're waiting for the press release distancing yourself from that flick once it bombs -- the action/diving scenes in the previews look pretty shaky...The ATP announced that Diego Hipperdinger, the world No. 491-ranked player, received a two-year suspension after he tested positive for cocaine and metabolites. Hipperdinger's test occurred on February 9, 2004 after a qualifying match at the ATP tournament in Vina del Mar, Chile. Doesn't the ATP pamphlet warn against mixing the Coke and Gatorade?...Andre Agassi dropped out of the Top 10 to No. 11 in this week's ATP Rankings...Venus Williams moved back inside the Top 10 at No. 10 this week on the WTA Rankings...The total pulls from San Diego this week, citing injury or "rest and recovery," were Jennifer Capriati, Tatiana Panova, Jelena Dokic, Dinara Safina, Tathiana Garbin, Magui Serna, and Justine Henin-Hardenne...What's up with all the taped matches on the US Open Series? What ever happened to live tennis? C'mon. As ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe might awkwardly shout out, "It's the taper!"...Here's a sweet backhanded compliment from SI.com's Jon Wertheim about the ATP magazine: "Deuce is a terrific magazine, remarkably well-done for an in-house publication."