Federer Pulls From Paris; Mattress Mac Pulls Tennis Plug

"Throughout this last period, Roger competed in three tournaments in less than a month, playing each one through to the final and even taking home every single title, costing him a lot of energy."

"I have played 90 matches this year and feel exhausted physically as well as mentally," Federer said. "I have thus had to decide to pull out of the tournament in Paris, as I do not want to take any risks regarding my health. The whole tournament in Basel has been a great, but also emotionally draining experience. This has played a strong role in taking my decision. I am really sorry and would like to apologize to the tournament organizers and all of you fans. I hope to see you in Shanghai."

Federer played the smaller Basel tournament the week before the top-level Paris stop.

As fans posting messages on Federer's website lauded his decision to rest, one wrote: "I am a poor college student who payed 64 euro to get tickets to the final expecting to see Federer. I don't know how to feel..."

Safin Wins, Federer Pulls as MS-Paris

Three time champion Marat Safin posted a 6-1, 7-6(5) win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut on day one at a depleted Masters Series-Paris.

Safin, who has won the Paris title in 2000, 2002 and 2004, improved to 22-2 career in Paris and extended his winning streak at the tournament to 11 matches. In addition to his three titles, the Russian reached the final in his debut in 1999, losing to Andre Agassi in four sets.

The former world No. 1 will now meet Swede Robin Soderling on Tuesday.

The tournament is the last stop of the 2006 ATP season, and five of the Top 6 players have withdrawn.

World No. 1 Roger Federer, who has never won in the French capital, told organizers on Monday he would not be coming this year because he was exhausted.

The withdrawal of the dominant Swiss left world No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko as the highest player left in the draw.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal pulled out on Sunday with a stomach muscle injury, joining No. 3 David Nalbandian, No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic and No. 6 Andy Roddick.

Also on Monday, Nicolas Almagro advanced to the second round with a 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 7-6(2) victory over 34-year-old Jonas Bjorkman. Almagro will next meet No. 16 seed Dmitry Tursunov.

Olivier Rochus of Belgium beat Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 7-5. Italian qualifier Daniele Bracciali knocked out Gilles Simon, 6-3, 6-4. American Robby Ginepri defeated big-serving Max Mirnyi 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, and Frenchman Michael Llodra posted a 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Zvonareva, Sprem Win at WTA Hasselt

HASSELT, Belgium -- Vera Zvonareva continued her exciting fall run with a first round victory on Monday at the Gaz de France Stars. The No.6-seeded Russian eliminated compatriot Vera Dushevina, 76(3) 61, at Ethias Arena.

The last few months have been exceptionally successful for world No.25 Zvonareva. After claiming her first Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open (with Nathalie Dechy), she posted her second best career win at Moscow, upsetting Svetlana Kuznetsova en route to the quarterfinals. Two weeks later, she reached another quarterfinal at Linz, overthrowing Francesca Schiavone along the way. The 22-year-old next faces either Kirsten Flipkens or Elena Vesnina in the second round.

The other Monday main draw winner was unseeded Karolina Sprem, who bested Lucie Safarova, 64 62. Sprem finally broke a long and frustrating losing streak that started in the third round of Wimbledon. Since then, the 24-year-old Croat has made first round exits at the US Open, Kolkata, Stuttgart and Zurich. Her second round opponent will be either qualifier Aravane Rezai or No.4 seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Rezai, Kaia Kanepi, Roberta Vinci and Angelique Kerber won their qualifying matches on Monday to secure a spot in the main draw. On Tuesday, Groenefeld and No.5 seed Ai Sugiyama take centre court.
-- WTA

Seeds Perry, Poutchkova Win at Quebec City

No. 6 seed Shenay Perry and No. 8 Olga Poutchkova combined to give the seeds a 2-0 record on opening day Monday at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City.

The American Perry outlasted Melinda Czink 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, while the 20-year-old Russian Poutchkova ran over Canadian wildcard Valerie Tetreault 6-0, 6-2.

Other winners Monday were American Laura Granville (d. Kostanic), Slovak Martina Sucha (d. Rubin), and Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak (d. Jidkova).

Five Former No 1s at WTA Year-Ender in Madrid

From Press Release
The singles and doubles line-ups for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships are now confirmed. Former champions Martina Hingis (SUI) and Kim Clijsters (BEL) secured the last two singles spots and join three other former World No.1s set to compete in Madrid. Kveta Peschke (CZE) and Francesca Schiavone (ITA) have taken the fourth doubles berth to qualify for their first ever Sony Ericsson Championships.

Patty Schnyder (SUI) was the only woman who had a chance to oust Hingis and/or Clijsters from the Top 8, but her failure to reach the final of last week?s Generali Ladies Linz in Linz, Austria ruled the left-hander out of contention. Consequently, Hingis capped a remarkable comeback in 2006 with qualification for the season-ending Championships for the first time since 2002. However, as she missed the 2001 and 2002 events due to foot and ankle problems, it will be her first time competing since the second of her two title runs in 2000 (also 1998).

Clijsters, set to make her return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at this week's Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, Belgium, has not played since injuring her left wrist in August. The 2002 and 2003 winner of the season-ending Championships, Clijsters is preparing to make her sixth appearance in this event overall. She also reached the doubles final in 2003 (with Ai Sugiyama).

Hingis and Clijsters join defending champion Amelie Mauresmo (FRA), Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL), Maria Sharapova (RUS), Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS), Nadia Petrova (RUS) and Elena Dementieva (RUS) in the singles portion of the Sony Ericsson Championships. Five of those eight women have been ranked No.1 in the world -- Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Hingis, Mauresmo and Sharapova.

Peschke and Schiavone, the fourth and final doubles qualifiers, have won titles this year at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open in Dubai, Fortis Championships in Luxembourg and Kremlin Cup in Moscow, complimenting their semifinal finish at the US Open and quarterfinal efforts at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. It is the first time both women have qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Roland Garros winners and defending champions at the Sony Ericsson Championships, Lisa Raymond (USA) and Samantha Stosur (AUS) have an unassailable lead in the Doubles Race with 4000 points, having won the Linz title on Sunday, their eighth of the season. They were the first players to qualify for the doubles portion of the $3-million event. Australian Open and Wimbledon champions Yan Zi (CHN) and Zheng Jie (CHN), in second place with 3022 points, will be the first-ever Chinese players to contest the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's season-ending Championships. The third team to qualify was Cara Black (ZIM) and Rennae Stubbs (AUS), with 2459 points and runners-up in this event the past two years.

The Sony Ericsson Championships will gather the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams from the regular 2006 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season as they battle it out for the season-ending titles and a share of the $3-million prize purse. The Sony Ericsson Championships will be played for the first time at Madrid Arena, November 7-12, 2006.
-- WTA

DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
What if we sent you all the day's tennis news directly to your in-box -- a complete round-up of what's going on in the sport each morning? Could you even imagine? Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get their heads around the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. Sign up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php
 
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
From Reuters: "ATP chairman Etienne De Villiers acknowledged changes need to be made to the tennis calendar and sanctions could be taken against players to prevent fields at major tournaments from being depleted. The head of men's tennis proposed the measures after world number one Roger Federer pulled out of the Paris Masters, which started on Monday, citing exhaustion. The withdrawal of the dominant Swiss means the indoor event, which was also badly hurt by no-shows the last two years, is now without five of the world's top six players..."I am both deeply disappointed and concerned by the depletion in the player field for one of ATP's most prestigious events," De Villiers said in a statement. "Unfortunately this is the third year that withdrawals and injuries have hurt the event and the fans' opportunity to see all their tennis idols. This reinforces my determination to introduce meaningful change to the calendar, the structures, the incentives and sanctions needed to have healthy, motivated top players grace our top events." MS-Paris Tournament Director Cedric Pioline speaking to Reuters on how to fix the no-shows: "The tournament organizers seem to have more obligations than the players. We need a system with sanctions and, having been a player, I can tell you that fines don't work. We need bans."...From the Kim Clijsters blog: "I live only 20 minutes away from Hasselt, so I go home every day to spend time with my fiancee, Brian, and his dad. I try to take care of them as well as possible, and plan the rest of my schedule with them in mind -- training, massages, even going to the supermarket (so I can have my fridge full at all times!) I like having people over at my house. It's fun. One thing I've been able to do over the last few months is spend a lot of time with Brian. He plays basketball, and I've been able to go to a few of his games, also some of his away games. I really enjoy it. It's a very nerve-wracking sport! But it's fun and I enjoy watching it. It's also a great atmosphere afterwards; you go out, have a few drinks, relax. This is not always possible in the tennis world!" -- It is if you're Marat Safin...Odd how Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal pulling from Paris didn't make the headlines on the ATP website...32-year-old Mary Pierce says she will play on in 2007 after being out 6-12 months with her knee injury....From ESPN's intrepid Bonnie DeSimone: "For the first time since the women's tour established a season-ending singles championship in 1972, no American player will be in the draw. An all-European field of four Russians, two Belgians, one French player and one Swiss Miss will square off for the title."...Lots of empty seats Monday at the MS-Paris, with a weak opening-day line-up compounded by pull-outs from the top players...From Tennis Week: "Former ATP player and 20-year company veteran Fernando Soler has been appointed senior vice president of IMG tennis worldwide, effective immediately, IMG announced today. Soler will oversee IMG's global tennis business including client representation, tournament and event management, and sponsorship sales around the world. The 45-year-old Soler, who is based in Barcelona, will report to George Pyne, President, IMG Sports/Entertainment...Tatiana Panova is taking her teaching skills to the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Academy in Philadelphia. The 30-year-old Moscow native, who has competed on the WTA Tour since 1994, has been named a teaching tennis professional at Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, the non-profit organization that provides year-round programs for 10,500 Philadelphia-area kids each year."...From The Times Online's Neil Harman: "The problem for tennis, as its year reaches a climax with the men's and women's Masters, is that everyone (apart from Nikolay Davydenko) is tired. It is a terrible shame and everyone must show the necessary commitment to find a remedy. Alain Riou, the joint tournament director here, called the situation "unbearable". Etienne de Villiers, the ATP chairman, appreciates Riou's emotions. "I'm both disappointed and very concerned with the depletion in the player field," De Villiers said. "We have to fix the top of the structure because if the pinnacle of the game is creaking, we are in trouble." The talk is of sanctions, but what would work against players who have so much money anyway? The only way is to deliver a workable calendar, a decent ranking system, a credible bonus pool and make them understand that it is incumbent upon them to play the best they can as often as they can."...From LSUsports.net: "Pete Sampras defeated fellow tennis pro Todd Martin in the main event of the "Duel Under the Oaks" event held at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Sampras' win capped off a successful day of charitable events sponsored by Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation that helped raise more than $400,000 for LSU Health Sciences Center students impacted by the hurricanes that ripped through Louisiana in 2005 [Sampras won in third-set tiebreak]...From InnerCityPress.com: "UNITED NATIONS, October 30 -- "That is not an African question." With that, Senegal's president Abdoulaye Wade answered a question about his age, at a press conference about the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit. Wade challenged the reporter to race him down the hallway. While tennis player Serena Williams was also taking questions, most were directed to Wade."...Serena being ignored? That's never good for Serena...Nikolay Davydenko has qualified in the No. 5 sport for the Masters Cup...From the Houston Chronicle's Dale Robertson: "Westside Tennis Club, home to Houston's only major pro tour event, is heading in a new direction, and will soon have a new name -- Westside Tennis and Fitness Club. Jim McIngvale, the discount furniture king, has essentially given up trying to turn a buck on tennis and will try to grow his club membership by offering an array of new products: a state-of-the-art fitness center, a hugely expanded pool area, baseball batting cages and even senior citizen activities. "There's no money in tennis," McIngvale said. "It's taken me 10 years to learn that. We haven't been able to grow the game as much as I thought we could...Our [ATP tournament] date is the week after Davis Cup, and players are spread all over the world. The best (clay-court) players won't come here because they're already in Europe. It's a tough sell without the big names. By the time you pay [the ATP] a $250,000 rights fee, half a million in appearance fees and spend millions on advertising, there's not a lot left." -- Love him or hate him, what a loss for U.S. tennis, compared to a couple years ago when Mattress Mac was willingly pumping millions of his own cash into promoting the sport. What's wrong with this picture?...From The Age: "They're well-suited, Greg Norman and Chrissie Evert. He's a golfing Shark, she's a tennis pro, they're both 51, he's blond, she's blonde, they share an uncanny resemblance, and they're available after splitting from their spouses. The Palm Beach Post flew a cupid's arrow last week, saying the duo have become each other's rock, but the Shark's lawyer, Jack Schneider, slammed it. "If two people are having dinner or going to the movies, are they dating?" Mr Schneider asked. Well, these two are and they're rocking each other's world. A whisper reached Diary in September that Greg, who is divorcing wife Laura, was holding hands with Chrissie, so we put it to the Shark's spokesman, Bart Collins. He denied it, ruled it out, denied it because Chrissie was married to Olympic skier Andy Mill: "Greg and Chris have been friends for a long time, but there is no truth to it." Now that Chrissie has split with Andy and palm trees in Palm Beach were swaying in the moonlight about her and Greg smooching, Diary again contacted Collins and he said: "Greg and Chris are just friends." Make that friends and more."...Withdrawals from the WTA event this week in Hasselt: Anna Chakvetadze, Stephanie Foretz, Maria Kirilenko, Elena Likhovtseva, Anastasia Myskina, Flavia Pennetta, Nadia Petrova, Mary Pierce, Dinara Safina, Patty Schnyder, Katarina Srebotnik, and Nicole Vaidisova. Yes, that's more than a third of the field, that has to be some kind of record...From The Telegraph's Mark Hodgkinson: "With almost enough money to issue their own bank notes, the Lawn Tennis Association can afford to hire A-list talent, and it emerged yesterday that Tim Henman's American coach, Paul Annacone, was set to become the head of men's tennis. As one of the most highly respected coaches, Annacone would certainly not come cheaply. He was hired by Henman in December 2003, and took him to the semi-finals of both Roland Garros and the US Open in 2004. He previously worked with Pete Sampras, the winner of a record 14 grand slam titles, and he was also employed by the United States Tennis Federation."

Also see:
The Shock of all Shocks, Players Pull from Paris
http://www.tennis-x.com/xblog/2006-10-30/110.php