Oh my! Nothing for months and then two together. I hope the elbow problem doesn't prevent him playing here, and that he can recover from that effort today to carry some decent form into this tournament.
I would actually prefer him to take the week off, get the elbow 100 % and come back sharp and fit for Madrid.
I'll second that, Phil. No point in his taking senseless risks which could derail the rest of his season if there are any doubts at all about his right elbow.
Maybe wise in the long run if it's still troubling him at all.
Would almost certainly mean Andy got his 2nd "500" zero pointer, leaving him down to only being able to count 2 out of the normal 4. Would only cost him his Valencia 45 points at the moment.
I'm not quite sure if you can get out of this if it's an injury and you say do promotional work at the event.
-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 17th of April 2011 09:04:55 PM
Andy has withdrawn from Barcelona, in accordance with advice from the doctors.
He shouldn't get a zero for this, should he? He's there, he can do promotion. Djokovic didn't get one for Monte Carlo.
-- Edited by Madeline on Tuesday 19th of April 2011 03:31:25 PM
Was Djokovic ever intending playing in Monte Carlo, and particularly was he on the acceptance list ? ( edit : ah, I take it by your mention in the Week 16 thread of him doing promotional work to avoid a zero pionter, the answer is Yes )
The "500" zero point issue ( and Monte Carlo counts for this as a "500" tournament ) is withdrawing ater the acceptance list is out.
Whether he can get out of the sero pointer or not ( and fairness says he should, but... ) I still definitely think Andy is right to follow medical advice.
-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 19th of April 2011 06:45:47 PM
Fool that I am I had a go at reading the ATP handbook. I see that you get fines for missing events and that you can avoid a fine by doing the glad handing thing. I really can't imagine that Andy would be penalised if he's gone to Barcelona is happy to do the publicity and has medical advice that says he shouldn't compete. That said who knows.
Well, as discussed we don't know that Andy is going to be penalised and hopefully he won't be.
On the face of it the rules make no exception for injury, but apparently folk have got off by doing promotional work at the relevant tournament.
If Andy ends up being penalised here ( and has been prepared to do anything that was reasonably asked of him ) then I will agree it would be a disgrace. Presumably Andy could easily have turned up for his match, played a couple of shots and then retired and nout they could have really done about it, but that would have been disrespecting the tournament.
I do agree with zero pointers for missing compulsories for whatever reasons, as per previous discussions, but for "500s" yes, they don't want folk withdrawing from tournaments, but to effectively reduce "500" counters for genuine injury to me just isn't right.
Not that it's maybe really a huge deal for the very top players ( Nadal and Fed already have 5 zero pointers between them and Andy already has one for various reasons )
-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 19th of April 2011 10:47:37 PM
Apparently he is heading back to the UK. So, he would only have been available for promotional work for 2 days - I'm not sure that would be enough. Ah well - if he gets a penalty, just tough.
