TennisToday: Barcelona

Barcelona ATP 500: Tuesday's Results

SECOND ROUND

2 Robin Soderling (above) d Juan Ignacio Chela - 75 75
15 Nicolas Almagro d Simon Greul - 61 63
LL Ivan Navarro d Q Pablo Cuevas - 62 64

FIRST ROUND

Q Simone Bolelli d 9 Tommy Robredo - 67(7) 64 31 ret. (back)
Q Daniel Gimeno-Traver d 10 Juan Monaco - 62 36 62
11 Jurgen Melzer d LL Nicolas Lapentti - 63 63
12 Lleyton Hewitt d Q Marcel Ilhan - 64 46 62
Jeremy Chardy d 14 Albert Montanes - 63 76(1)
16 Feliciano Lopez d Olexsandr Dolgopolov Jr. - 63 30 ret. (illness)
Denis Istomin d Stephane Robert - 76(5) 16 61
Sergiy Stakhovsky d Mischa Zverev - 46 64 62
Ernests Gulbis d Peter Luczak - 76(4) 63
Victor Hanescu d Andreas Beck - 61 62

Photo: Robin Soderling - Getty Images

Posted at 12:42 PM in Barcelona, Mens Tennis, Robin Soderling, Scores | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rafael Nadal Explains Barcelona Withdrawal

I agree with Rafa, the clay court schedule is grueling & needs better plotting.

Google translation from Nadal News: "The last year was difficult, with a lot of problems. I started this year playing well, and apart from the small problem in Australia, I felt I was playing well enough to have chances to win at all of the tournaments I have entered. I needed the win in Monte Carlo. But with everything that has happened to me, to play for three consecutive weeks, taking into account that we are on clay and the matches tend to last a little longer, would be almost impossible."

"Yes, [the withdrawal] was a preventative measure. Luckily last week I played very well. I feel fine right now, but I have had many problems in this last year and can't afford to take any risks if I want to be in my best possible condition on court. That’s my main objective."

A handshake with tournament director Albert Costa punctuated matters:

NO HARD FEELINGS.

Photos: Reuters/Getty Images

Posted at 09:55 AM in Barcelona, Media, Mens Tennis, MISC, Rafael Nadal | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barcelona ATP 500: Monday's Results

FIRST ROUND

13 Tomas Bellucci d Jarkko Nieminen - 64 64
15 Nicolas Almagro d Santiago Ventura - 61 62
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez d Q Christophe Rochus - 57 61 63
WC Marcel Granollers d Lukasz Kubot (above) - 64 63
Richard Gasquet d Igor Andreev - 76(5) 64
Jan Hajek d Potito Starace - 61 64
Oscar Hernandez d Illya Marchenko - 67(2) 62 64
Simon Greul d Q Pere Riba - 64 64
Thiemo de Bakker d Alejandro Falla - 61 60
Eduardo Schwank d Fabio Fognini - 61 63
Juan Ignacio Chela d WC Filip Krajinovic - 61 64
Q Pablo Cuevas d Horacio Zeballos - 76(2) 62

Photo: Lukasz Kubot, he lost but I liked his arms - Getty Images

Posted at 03:09 PM in Barcelona, Mens Tennis, Scores, The 500's | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rafael Nadal Withdraws from Barcelona

SMART

Now that's a decision of a man looking to recapture his Roland Garros glory.

With Masters 1000 events played every other week until RG it's simply too much to ask the top players to squeeze anything else in their schedules. And by top players I mean: legitimate contenders.

And by legitimate contenders I mean: Rafa, Roger and Novak (and a couple others). Roger seems to have addressed this by skipping Monte Carlo last week. One wonders if Novak will over-play as he did last year by trying to defend his Belgrade title which is sandwiched between Masters 1000 events in Rome and Madrid.

As the 5-time defending champion in Barcelona I am sure pulling out was no easy decision but his team had to have felt it a necessary one. The Tennis Channel commentators suggested that Rafa might skip Madrid but I felt if he should skip a tournament he should pull from Barcelona and take every other week off leading to RG. Glad he took my advise.

In part Rafa's press release read, "I am really sorry not to be able to play in Barcelona, more than any other tournament, but this year after the win in Monte Carlo my body is asking me to rest. I repeat that I'm especially sorry not to play there, because I would like it to be understood that it really is that way, because it is played in my club and it is my home tournament."

Tournament director Albert Costa was gracious in his response, "We wish Rafa the best of luck. We know that this has been a difficult decision for him to take. A player also has to know when to listen to his body. But the tournament has only just begun and we have a week of the best tennis ahead of us. Rafa’s withdrawal is a pity but the tournament will go on and will continue strongly and with a great draw."

Posted at 12:52 PM in Barcelona, Commentary, Mens Tennis, MISC, Rafael Nadal, The 500's | Permalink | Comments (0)