RG 2006 men's draw

[Brinyi]

This entry list is exactly the same as the April 17 rankings.

1 Roger FEDERER (SUI) 1
2 Rafael NADAL (ESP) 2
3 David NALBANDIAN (ARG) 3
4 Andy RODDICK (USA) 4
5 Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO) 5
6 Nikolay DAVYDENKO (RUS) 6
7 James BLAKE (USA) 7
8 Gaston GAUDIO (ARG) 8
9 Guillermo CORIA (ARG) 9
10 Andre AGASSI (USA) 10
11 Lleyton HEWITT (AUS) 11
12 Radek STEPANEK (CZE) 12
13 Nicolas KIEFER (GER) 13
14 Thomas JOHANSSON (SWE) 14
15 David FERRER (ESP) 15
16 Robby GINEPRI (USA) 16
17 Mario ANCIC (CRO) 17
18 Sébastien GROSJEAN (FRA) 18
19 Tommy ROBREDO (ESP) 19
20 Jarkko NIEMINEN (FIN) 20
21 Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI) 21
22 Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP) 22
23 Dominik HRBATY (SVK) 23
24 Tomas BERDYCH (CZE) 24
25 Tommy HAAS (GER) 25
26 Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP) 26
27 Richard GASQUET (FRA) 27
28 Igor ANDREEV (RUS) 28
29 Olivier ROCHUS (BEL) 29
30 Juan Ignacio CHELA (ARG) 30
31 Fernando VERDASCO (ESP) 31
32 Gaël MONFILS (FRA) 32
33 Dmitry TURSUNOV (RUS) 33
34 Carlos MOYA (ESP) 34
35 Jose ACASUSO (ARG) 35
36 Nicolas MASSU (CHI) 36
37 Paradorn SRICHAPHAN (THA) 37
38 Mikhail YOUZHNY (RUS) 38
39 Paul-Henri MATHIEU (FRA) 39
40 Feliciano LOPEZ (ESP) 40
41 Xavier MALISSE (BEL) 41
42 Filippo VOLANDRI (ITA) 42
43 Luis HORNA (PER) 43
44 Christophe ROCHUS (BEL) 44
45 Andy MURRAY (GBR) 45
46 Greg RUSEDSKI (GBR) 46
47 Fabrice SANTORO (FRA) 47
48 Florent SERRA (FRA) 48
49 Marat SAFIN (RUS) 49
50 Max MIRNYI (BLR) 50
51 Davide SANGUINETTI (ITA) 51
52 Agustin CALLERI (ARG) 52
53 Victor HANESCU (ROM) 53
54 Andreas SEPPI (ITA) 54
55 Ivo KARLOVIC (CRO) 55
56 Arnaud CLEMENT (FRA) 56
57 Kristof VLIEGEN (BEL) 57
58 Boris PASHANSKI (SCG) 58
59 Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI) 59
60 Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) 60
61 Paul GOLDSTEIN (USA) 61
62 Robin SODERLING (SWE) 62
63 Tim HENMAN (GBR) 63
64 Taylor DENT (USA) 64
65 Jurgen MELZER (AUT) 65
66 Alberto MARTIN (ESP) 66
67 Novak DJOKOVIC (SCG) 67
68 Daniele BRACCIALI (ITA) 68
69 Gilles SIMON (FRA) 69
70 Wesley MOODIE (RSA) 70
71 Jonas BJORKMAN (SWE) 71
72 Robin VIK (CZE) 72
73 Björn PHAU (GER) 73
74 Vincent SPADEA (USA) 74
75 Florian MAYER (GER) 75
76 Rainer SCHUETTLER (GER) 76
77 Gilles MULLER (LUX) 77
78 Lukas DLOUHY (CZE) 78
79 Potito STARACE (ITA) 79
80 Carlos BERLOCQ (ARG) 80
81 Andrei PAVEL (ROM) 81
82 Julien BENNETEAU (FRA) 82
83 Marcos DANIEL (BRA) 83
84 Jan HERNYCH (CZE) 84
85 Nicolas MAHUT (FRA) 85
86 Philipp KOHLSCHREIBER (GER) 86
87 Guillermo GARCIA-LOPEZ (ESP) 87
88 Yeu-Tzuoo WANG (TPE) 88
89 Albert MONTANES (ESP) 89
90 Flavio SARETTA (BRA) 90
91 Juan MONACO (ARG) 91
92 Ruben RAMIREZ HIDALGO (ESP) 92
93 Alessio DI MAURO (ITA) 93
94 Alexander WASKE (GER) 94
95 Raemon SLUITER (NED) 95
96 Jiri NOVAK (CZE) 96
97 Justin GIMELSTOB (USA) 97
98 Nicolas LAPENTTI (ECU) 98
99 Juan Antonio MARIN (CRC) 99
100 Jiri VANEK (CZE) 100
101 Janko TIPSAREVIC (SCG) 101
102 Paul CAPDEVILLE (CHI) 102
103 Razvan SABAU (ROM) 103
104 Tomas ZIB (CZE) 104

The next 10 in:

105 Carlsen, Kenneth
106 Portas, Albert
107 Vicente, Fernando
108 Marach, Oliver
109 Lee! Hyung! Taik!
110 Kunitsyn, Igor
111 Minar, Ivo
112 Delgado, Ramon
113 Greul, Simon
114 Udomchoke, Danai

[DBBN]

Snotso

[Brinyi]

Andreev out of Roland Garros

Eurosport - 02/05/2006

Russia's Igor Andreev underwent left knee surgery to repair cartilage damage. The 22-year-old, who will have to skip Roland Garros, plans to begin rehabilitation in Valencia and is likely to be sidelined through Wimbledon.

[janie]

Scud spurns wildcard play-off

By Leo Schlink
03may06

MARK Philippoussis has rejected an invitation to contest a Tennis Australia play-off for a French Open wildcard.

Australian Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald said yesterday Philippoussis had refused to join a play-off of Australians for the wildcard.

"All our players, outside Lleyton Hewitt who is already in the main draw, were given the opportunity to play," Fitzgerald said.

"Four of the next five guys (in the rankings) are going to play.

"Mark just said he didn't want to take part. There was no issue with that."

Australian administrators wanted the former world No.8 to contest the wildcard for the May 29 to June 11 French Open against Chris Guccione, Peter Luczak, Wayne Arthurs and Nathan Healey.

The play-off, two days before qualifying begins in Paris, has been revived by Tennis Australia director of player development Craig Tiley.

Philippoussis surrendered the wildcard before the tournament last year because of fitness issues.

TA has a wildcard exchange with the French and US Opens and is working on a deal with Wimbledon.

Philippoussis has been handed wildcards to all four grand slams since his career nosedived. He has had 16 wildcards in two seasons.

He is ranked No.166, after losing last week in the second round of the Bermuda Challenger.

Now sidelined with a sore left knee, he is likely to aim at the European grass-court circuit.

TA's new leadership, headed by Steve Wood and Tiley, is intent on creating accountability among its players.

A culture of hand-outs has been replaced by a performance-based rewards system.

Philippoussis's father Nick and Tiley are at odds over the level of support TA should give the winner of 10 titles and $9 million. It is understood the pair clashed over the issue during the Australian summer.

Philippoussis's critics say the $75,524 the serve-volleyer earned from TA-sponsored grand slam wildcards over two seasons is enough investment.

Philippoussis was said to be angry he was not selected for the first-round Davis Cup tie against Switzerland in February , when Hewitt did not play.

He has since split from his latest coach, Archie Adams. [Yay Archie!]

Barring a rankings surge, which will not happen unless he has a swag of wins on the secondary Challenger Tour in the next month, Philippoussis will need a wildcard into Wimbledon.

The alternative would be to qualify at Roehampton, a task his father considered beneath the then-teenager in 1995.

TA will also hold a women's wildcard play-off ahead of the French Open. Nicole Pratt, Casey Dellacqua, Lauren Breadmore, Sophie Ferguson and, possibly, Alicia Molik are expected to contest it.

Former world No.8 Molik is due to return to international tennis at the Italian Open in Rome this month with a protected ranking of No.26.

On rankings, Sam Stosur at No.55 is a direct entry into the main draw of the French Open.

[highwaymen]

What are Roger Federer's chances of ever winning the French Open, seeing as the last attacking/serve vollyer to do so was Nastase in 1973? Its funny how people seem to have already awarded him the French Open, whilst poo-pooing Pete Sampras for never having done so. Thus far Federer has had no more success at Roland Garros than Pistol Pete.

[Brinyi]

highwaymen said:

What are Roger Federer's chances of ever winning the French Open, seeing as the last attacking/serve vollyer to do so was Nastase in 1973? Its funny how people seem to have already awarded him the French Open, whilst poo-pooing Pete Sampras for never having done so. Thus far Federer has had no more success at Roland Garros than Pistol Pete.

Yannick Noah.

Nadal is the clear favourite to win the French Open. I know of no sane person who has already awarded Roj the French Open.

Enjoy your "thus far" while you can.

[shenaynay]

EL MAGO IS WIN ROLABD GARROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

[highwaymen]

You patronising ****** . Actually, I was going to add the caviet 'with the possible exception of Yannick Noah' even though I never saw him play, despite being a major tennis fan during his prime. Maybe I was down the nightclub at the time (Yannick would be proud) or maybe he was down the nightclub when I wanted to watch him. Although I've heard some people argue as to whether Yannick was really a serve vollyer or not, I'll accept that you know your tennis. What I should have said was Nastase was the last serve vollyer who got past the first round of Wimbledon who won the French Open (now you'll start to tell me that Roger Federer isn't really a serve vollyer!). But seriously Yannick was one of those mercurial geniuses that hardly anyone (at least in Britain) ever saw, like Milislov Mercer (we could do with personalities like those now). But what I meant to say was that alot of people seem to rate Federer above Sampras on the assumption that he will win the French Open. In my book he would have to win the French to be rated above Sampras, as well as several other Wimbledons and US Opens. He's unlikely to come close to the Sampras tally of 7 Wimbledons and 5 US Opens, particularly as he is approaching his 25th birthday! Why? Here's a trivia question before you head down to the bookmakers to back Federer to surpass Borg's record of 5 consecutive Wimbledons - How many players over the age of 25 have won the men's singles at Wimbledon in the 30 years since Arthur Ashe won it just a few weeks short of his 32nd birthday in 1975?

[shenaynay]

McEnroe, Pete and Goran.

Yannick is usually regarded as the last s&v to win Roland Garros. As I wasn't born at the time, I can't say if he was a s&v then, but he definitely was in his later years.

I don't think anyone assumes Roger will win Roland Garros. Besides maybe his crazy fans. I think there's a decent chance he could eventually... but, he's certainly not the favorite this year, at least.

Any comparisons to Pete are silly at this point. Since comparing Pete's 14 slams to Roger's current total of 7 is unfair. Pete also had 7 slams before his 25th birthday. So, who knows.

[R. Black]

The difference between Sampras and Federer is that Sampras was mediocre on clay and Federer is decent.

With reasonnable luck, Sampras at best can make the 1/2F of Roland Garros.
With a reasonnable draw, Federer can win Roland Garros.

[shenaynay]

Pete did win Rome, so there was some chance he could win at RG. It's not like he was totally inept on clay. And I know that Rome draw worked out about as perfectly as Pete could hope, but, whatever.

But, yes, Roger has a much more realistic shot of winning RG someday, than Pete ever did.

[Brinyi]

I am very old, and I recall Yannick at the net an awful lot against Wilander in that final. He was pretty much an attacking player.

I agree that Sampras-Federer comparisons in terms of career accomplishments are a little premature at the moment, and when the time comes to make them, will also be inconclusive.

[Brinyi]

The seeds in full:

1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. David Nalbadian
4. Ivan Ljubicic
5. Andy Roddick
6. Nikolay Davydenko
7. Tommy Robredo
8.James Blake
9. Fernando Gonzalez
10. Gaston Gaudio
11. Radek Stepanek
12. Mario Ancic
13. Nicloas Kiefer
14. Lleyton Hewitt
15. David Ferrer
16. Jarkko Nieminen
17. RobbieGinepri
18. Thomas Johansson
19. Marcos Baghdatis
20. Thomas Berdych
21. Sebastien Grosjean
22. Dominik Hrbaty
23. Tommy Haas
24. Juan Carlos Ferrero
25. Gael Monfils
26. Jose Acasuso
27. Olivier Rochus
28. Fernando Verdasco
29. Paul-Henri Mathieu
30. Carlos Moya
31. Dimitry Tursunov
32. Nicolas Massu

[The Chloe]

highwaymen said:

Although I've heard some people argue as to whether Yannick was really a serve vollyer or not, I'll accept that you know your tennis.

Er, really? People actually debate that? What people?

Anyways, there is a reason that people rate Fed above Pete on clay, yo.

[Brinyi]

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- Andy Roddick retired after injuring his left foot in the first set of his match at the World Team Cup, and Chile took advantage by beating the United States 2-1 Wednesday.

Nicolas Massu was leading 4-2 when Roddick pulled out. With the match at 2-2, the American landed badly and called for treatment after dropping his serve with a netted forehand. After taping his foot and ankle, Roddick resumed play but retired after losing the next game at love.

"I slid and kind of went over on it and felt something clip or pop," Roddick said. "I wasn't able to really step on it, much less move, so it was pointless just going through the motions out there."

The injury comes only four days before the French Open begins, but Roddick is still hoping to compete.

"I still feel like it's too early to tell the nature of the injury or the seriousness of it," Roddick said. "I just hope I wake up tomorrow and it resembles an ankle and not a balloon.

"The next few days I'll be seeing a lot of ice. I don't know how much court time I'm going to see. So it's going to be days that are pretty boring, full of ice and hope."

[Brinyi]

Calleri has withdrawn , making room for a LL.

[DBBN]

Augie

[Traveling Man]

Round One:

Federer-Clement

[Brinyi]

Gonzalez (Chi) – Safin (Rus)
Nalbandian (Arg, 3) - Wawrinka (Sui)

[Brinyi]

Jose Acasuso ARG (26) - Fabrice Santoro FRA

[Dina]

blah , Rafa has a quite a tricky draw, with lots of French players and Gonzo and fat Spaniard.

[Traveling Man]

Is a Federer-Nadal final guaranteed?

[Brinyi]

Ze draw

(1) Roger Federer (Swi) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Justin Gimelstob (US)
Gilles Muller (Lux) v Max Mirnyi (Bel)
Xavier Malisse (Bel) v (32) Nicolas Massu (Chi)

(20) Tomas Berdych (Cze) v Feliciano Lopez (Spa)
Qualifier v Filippo Volandri (Ita)
Marc Gicquel (Fra) v Alessio Di Mauro (Ita)
Juergen Melzer (Aut) v (13) Nicolas Kiefer (Ger)

----------------------------------------------------------

(12) Mario Ancic (Cro) v Nathan Healey (Aus)
Paul Capdeville (Chi) v Greg Rusedski (GB)
Florian Mayer (Ger) v Qualifier
Albert Montanes (Spa) v (17) Robby Ginepri (US)

(26) Jose Acasuso (Arg) v Fabrice Santoro (Fra)
Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) v Kristof Vliegen (Bel)
Boris Pasanski (Ser) v Victor Hanescu (Rom)
Tomas Zib (Cze) v (7) Tommy Robredo (Spa)

----------------------------------------------------------
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(3) David Nalbandian (Arg) v Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi)
Richard Gasquet (Fra) v Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (Tai)
Kenneth Carlsen (Den) v Tim Henman (GB)
Jiri Novak (Cze) v (31) Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)

(21) Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) v Andrei Pavel (Rom)
Qualifier v Paul Goldstein (US)
Wesley Moodie (SA) v Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu)
Raemon Sluiter (Ned) v (16) Jarkko Nieminen (Fin)

----------------------------------------------------------

(10) Gaston Gaudio (Arg) v Qualifier
Andreas Seppi (Ita) v Qualifier
Oliver Marach (Aut) v Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger)
Qualifier v (24) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa)

(30) Carlos Moya (Spa) v Juan Antonio Marin (CR)
Qualifier vs Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)
Flavio Saretta (Bra) v Potito Starace (Ita)
Vince Spadea (US) v (6) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)

----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
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(5) Andy Roddick (US) v Alberto Martin (Spa)
Qualifier v Razvan Sabau (Rom)
Nicolas Mahut (Fra) v Jiri Vanek (Cze)
Jean-Christophe Faurel (Fra) v (27) Olivier Rochus (Bel)

(19) Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) v Albert Portas (Spa)
Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) v Julien Benneteau (Fra)
Daniele Bracciali (Ita) v Davide Sanguinetti (Ita)
Michael Llodra (Fra) v (11) Radek Stepanek (Cze)

----------------------------------------------------------

(15) David Ferrer (Spa) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa)
Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) v Jeremy Chardy (Fra)
Thierry Ascione (France) v Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spa)
Christophe Rochus (Bel) v (18) Thomas Johansson (Swe)

(28) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) v Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg)
Juan Monaco (Arg) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Gilles Simon (Fra)
Carlos Berlocq (Arg) v (4) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro)

----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------

(8) James Blake (US) v Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha)
Nicolas Almagro (Spa) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Qualifier
Andy Murray (GB) v (25) Gael Monfils (Fra)

(23) Tommy Haas (Ger) v Rainer Schuettler (Ger)
Alexander Waske (Ger) v Fernando Vicente (Spa)
Novak Djokovic (Ser) v Luis Horna (Per)
Marat Safin (Rus) v (9) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)

----------------------------------------------------------

(14) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) v Jan Hernych (Cze)
Mathieu Montcourt (Fra) v Marcos Daniel (Bra)
Ivo Karlovic (Cro) v Olivier Patience (Fra)
Qualifier v (22) Dominik Hrbaty (Slo)

(29) Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) v Bjoern Phau (Ger)
Robin Vik (Cze) v Florent Serra (Fra)
Qualifier vs Qualifier
Robin Soderling (Swe) v (2) Rafael Nadal (Spa)

[Brinyi]

Clément has withdrawn so will play a Q/LL.

[Pamela Shriver]

leads Hartfield 7-5 5-4. Yawn.

[GoDom]

Looking forward to Santoro vs. Acasuso.

[GoDom]

Allez Fabrice. I wanted to see this.

[Traveling Man]

Vilas bitter at the idea of losing clay record

By Eric Salliot

PARIS (Reuters) - Guillermo Vilas says he is not impressed by Rafael Nadal's winning streak on clay even though the Spaniard will break the Argentine's record if he comes through his first round at the French Open on Monday.

The 19-year-old Nadal has been undefeated on the slow surface in his last 53 matches and looks set to add a 54th consecutive win when he kicks off his title defense at Roland Garros against Swede Robin Soderling.

"First of all, Nadal's performance is spanning over two years, which is not the same," Vilas, who set the record in 1977, told Reuters on Monday.

"Then, I have the feeling he added easy tournaments on his schedule just for that purpose," the 53-year-old added.

Vilas, who confessed he had to call the ATP to have confirmation of a record he had ignored, had his 1977 run ended in the Aix-en-Provence tournament semi-finals by Ilie Nastase.

"I did not lose to a player but against a racket," he said, referring to the double-strung racket the Romanian was using at the time.

"I could not play him. When I was 6-1 7-5 down, I threw in the sponge," said Vilas, who had won the Tehran, Bogota, Santiago and Buenos Aires tournaments that year.