Top Four Players Out of ATP Masters Madrid

Well documented last week were the withdrawals of world No. 1 Roger, No. 2 Andy Rodick, and No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt from the Masters Series-Madrid, which when coupled with the injured No. 4 Guillermo Coria means the ATP's top-level event is suffering.

Hewitt is reportedly on a walkabout vacation, with Roddick focusing on the Masters Cup and Davis Cup final, and Federer simply saying he needs a rest.

The withdrawals leave Brit Tim Henman as the top seed, followed by the next seven seeds in former No. 1s Andre Agassi and Marat Safin, David Nalbandian, Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu, former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson, and Tommy "The R." Robredo.

All 16 seeds receive byes in early-round-mojo-killing fashion, but exciting potential second round-meetings lie in wait in (1) Henman vs. former Roland Garros winner Al Costa (who has won their last two meetings, one on hardcourt), (13) Rainer "Shine" Schuettler vs. banger Ivan Ljubicic, (7) Pim-Pim vs. Vienna runner-up Guillermo Canas, (4) Nalbandian vs. the Robin Soderling-Florian "Oscar" Mayer winner, (11) Jiri Novak vs. Tommy Haas, (5) Massu vs. the Taylor Dent-Mikhail Youzhny winner, (9) Andrei Pavel vs. the Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic-Mardy Fish winner, (3) Safin vs. the "Dr." Ivo Karlovic-Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez winner, (8) Robredo vs. Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri, (14) Vince Spadea vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, and (2) Agassi vs. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi.

Potential quarterfinal match-ups are (1) Henman vs. (7) Pim-Pim, (4) Nalbandian vs. (5) Massu, (6) Ferrero vs. (3) Safin, and (10) The Dominator vs. (2) Agassi.

The MS-Madrid is in its third year, with former champs in the field Ferrero (2003) and Agassi (2002).

On court Monday are Soderling vs. Mayer, (Q) Rascon vs. Ginepri, (WC) Corretja vs. (WC) Ferrer in an all-Spanish, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze vs. Costa, Ancic vs. Fish, Horna vs. Arazi, (Q) Koubek vs. Schalken, (WC) Sanchez vs. (Q) Mirnyi, and (Q) Dupuis vs. Calleri.