Federer Awarded for Back-to-Back No. 1s; Tanner Back in Jail
Posted on November 15, 2005
Masters Cup to Disaster CupOn Monday the year-ending Masters Cup hit the halfway point -- not halfway through the week, but rather half of the eight-man draw pulling out of the event.
In fact, with Monday's pull-outs of Rafael Nadal (knee) and Andre Agassi (ankle), an unprecedented five of the original eight qualifiers for the Masters Cup have now taken to the sidelines with aches and pains, with Rafa and Andre joining Marat Safin (knee), Andy Roddick (back), and Lleyton Hewitt (groin, toe, impending baby birth) on the sidelines.
Agassi tried taping his ankle for his opener Monday against Russian Nikolay Davydenko, but the combination of weak ankle ligaments and the sticky Shanghai surface that lends itself to further injury had the American pulling the plug immediately after the 6-4, 6-2 loss.
"I thought maybe if I tape it and I support it maybe I could push through," said Agassi, who injured the ankle weeks ago playing racquetball. "But the foot went to the outside and down. So on the outside three ligaments were gone and on the inside I had the compression of the bone hitting bone, so I have a bone bruise on the inside."
After practicing on the sticky surface, Nadal pulled the plug before stepping on court for his first round robin match.
"It's clear that the court is difficult for me and, compared with other tournaments -- it's clear that it's not the best," said Nadal, who weeks ago won the Masters Series-Madrid title that Shanghai organizers say is the same surface.
Nadal disagreed, and when the day was done left the event with world No. 1 Roger Federer and only two other players that legitimately qualified for the event in Davydenko and Guillermo Coria.
"This is the same tournament surface that's being used in Madrid and Paris and the indoor season," an ITF representative said.
Ironically the two withdrawals brought in two more claycourt substitutes for the slick-as-ice event in, to the game's governing bodies delight, Mariano Puerta who the French sports paper L'Equipe outed as testing positive for doping (yet to be confirmed by the ATP/ITF), and Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.
Puerta in place of Nadal lost to his Argentine countryman Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 7-5 Monday.
Coria, the former French Open runner-up, vented on the slick Shanghai courts after being swatted away easily by big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic in their opening match.
"It's not good, especially against a guy like Ljubicic, because there's no way the crowd can enjoy a game like that," Coria said. "Thank God [Marat] Safin didn't make it here, because (he) would have been even worse."
Ljubicic has a game tailor-made for Shanghai, but even he admits the Taraflex hardcourt is like flypaper.
"The surface is really sticky so you can't move," Ljubicic said. "It's really difficult to move on court. And the ball doesn't bounce, doesn't have natural bounce. So it is strange."
Nadal said he consulted multiple doctors before pulling out, while Agassi reiterated the sticky court just made things worse for his injury.
"It's very sticky. It stops and everything else moves," Agassi said. "It's hard to have confidence. Then when you try a little bit, it's still painful...I was just getting worse. It's not ready."
Agassi eventually voiced the unspeakable -- at least in the leadership-void halls of the ATP and WTA headquarters -- that someone should perhaps address the injury issue during this, the worst injury year for top players since the advent of the Open Era in 1968.
"Somebody or something has to truly represent the better interest of the sport," Agassi said. "It's important for there to be resolve."
In Tuesday opening doubles action, (5) Paes/Zimonjic increased their round robin record to 2-0 with a two-tiebreak win over (7) Arthurs/Hanley, and (1) Bryan/Bryan evened their record at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over (4) Knowles/Nestor.
Tuesday's night session singles are (1) Federer vs. (6) Ljubicic, and (4) Coria vs. (8) Nalbandian.
Richard Vach is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Emma from the X-Discussion Board on Guillermo Coria's "Spider-Man" outfit at the Masters Cup: "...however, if he is going for a new eye-catching, muscle flaunting image, somebody should at least tell him not to wear the orange and black t-shirt with the navy shorts -- its a half arsed attempt -- he's gonna need an image consultant and a whole truck load of steroids if adidas want their very own Nadal-esque poster boy. Anyone see his white sport socks during the Masters opening ceremony -- every player dressed perfectly in jet black, Coria sits down for the group shot...ice white socks! not a good look."...Roger Federer after being awarded in a ceremony in Shanghai for again finishing as the year-end No. 1 on the ATP Rankings: "Thank you for being here and it's a great satisfaction to finish as the No. 1 player in the world for the second straight year. I will try to keep it again and hopefully keep it for another 365 days." The Swiss joined the line of No. 1s to finish at the top in back-to-back years in Lleyton Hewitt (2001-02), Pete Sampras (1993-97), Stefan Edberg (1990-91), Ivan Lendl (1985-87), John McEnroe (1981-84), Bjorn Borg (1979-80), and Jimmy Connors (1974-78)...You can't beat this for entertainment, from Australia's Herald Sun: "A scorned tennis player tossed out of a tennis club for calling foot faults on his doubles partner -- the president's daughter -- served up his revenge by padlocking eight players in a court. Frank Bosik pulled on a balaclava, drove to the club and used combination padlocks to imprison the Bunyip club president, his daughter and six other players inside the wire-mesh fenced courts. He then poked a scrap of paper through the fence with a series of potential lock combinations to keep them busy. The combinations all proved to be false. But Bosik's backhander was by no means a masterstroke. Though his face was hidden behind a beanie, in which he had cut a large hole for his eyes, he drove to the tennis courts in his distinctive black Suzuki Vitara. He was immediately recognised by the Gippsland club's president Peter Doogan, who called out, "that's Frank" as Bosik, 40, was approaching with the padlocks. The grumpy tennis ace, who still lives with his parents in Garfield, yesterday pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates' Court to eight charges of unlawful assault and one of unlawfully possessing a disguise. More serious charges of false imprisonment were earlier dropped...The club president's daughter, Joanne Doogan, 20, Bosik's former doubles partner, said she thought the trouble began when he was ranked lower than her in a doubles quartet. "I believe he took offence to being named the third player," she said. "During that season he would do a strange thing, like calling foot faults. Usually your partner doesn't call foot faults. He would criticise my tennis shots. This would make me feel very low."...Ms Doogan also said Bosik intimidated her by using her full name instead of her nickname. "Frank was really scaring me," she said. "He would call me Joanne and I'm only known as Jo to everyone."" The bastard!...From the AP: "Former tennis star Roscoe Tanner has been extradited from Tennessee to the Pinellas County jail and booked on two arrest warrants for violation of probation. Tanner, 54, was arrested last month in Tennessee on a fugitive warrant out of Florida. He was brought to Florida on Sunday."...Peter Bodo writing in TennisWorld on players playing too many tournaments: "Or, put it this way. If I were bombarded with freelance writing assignments that I chose to take because the pay was good, would it be right for me to bail out on commitments to some magazines at the end of the year and then blame my having left them hanging on the fact that I'm "tired" and have writer's cramp? Would it seem fair or smart of me to announce: The problem with my profession is that there are too many magazines willing to shower me with money for writing. We have to eliminate a lot of magazines! I hate being a writer! Oh, I know what some of you are going to say. Tennis is different...these guys are taking a whale of a beating...technology has changed the game...the stress...blah, blah, blah. I say, baloney. The problem is pure and simple. The players -- even the best players -- can't resist chasing the money."...Jim Courier won the senior tour event he organized in Houston, beating Todd Martin in the final: "Not good PR," Martin joked. "A man shouldn't win his own tournament."...Neil Harman writing for the Times Online: "It is impossible to get nearer to any of the players here than the fifth row of the interview room -- the chairs are taken up 15 minutes before their scheduled arrival -- and though the Chinese reporters, mostly women ask Hello! magazine-type questions, they do so with gushing enthusiasm. There were definite traces of crimson in Rafael Nadal's tanned cheeks when he fielded a question that began "you are beautiful..." Apart from a tendency to get up and walk around in the middle of points -- Roger Federer actually cleared his throat at one stage during his match yesterday -- and get so excited that they cheer shots before rallies have been completed, the behaviour of the Chinese fans is impeccable. There were few empty seats yesterday, as opposed to the vast open spaces at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, where the women's championship reached its finale last night."...Wang Liqun, deputy director of the organizing committee for the Shanghai Masters Cup: "We feel like we bought a Mercedes-Benz only to find 60 percent of the auto parts are no longer the original ones we paid for." Zing!