seagull wrote:

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Andy not on the entry list for Delray Beach - he would have been seeded if he had!

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maybe they still finalising the players who wants to compete, still early days yet.

I'm watching the Hewitt v Chela match on BBCi, and Andy has been in the commentary box with Chris Bailey.

He says he is going home tomorrow to practice on indoor courts, and also said his next tournament will probably be in Zagreb. Maybe they are now coming through with a wildcard? Henman is playing there, too, so another possible match-up between the two Brits.

I hope he does get a wildcard, it is a long time to San Jose!

From the Zagreb web site : http://www.zagrebindoors.com/indoors.htm

THE SECOND PRESS CONFERENCE
13.1.2006
A press conference was held at Zagreb's Westin Hotel on January 13th, 2006 to mark the signing of a three-year contract between the Zagreb Indoors tennis tournament, Privredna Banka Zagreb, PBZ Card and Croatian Radio Television.

By signing the contract the organizers have received yet another confirmation of the importance and grandeur of this sporting event. Milan Bandić, the Mayor of Zagreb, commented: "The great are always followed by the great."

This act awarded the tournament its official title: PBZ Zagreb Indoors.

There are exactly two weeks until the beginning of the tournament, but the main aces have long been known. Along with the Davis Cup champions – Ivan Ljubičić, Mario Ančić and Ivo Karlović – the main tournament will also present the Roland Garros Junior champion Marin Čilić, who received a wild card.

"A number of players have expressed interest in a wild card. The Spaniards have asked me if there was room for Alberto Costa. One of the candidates is also the young Scot Andy Murray", said Branimir Horvat, the tournament director.

The most important news is that the tournament will feature eight Top 30 players from the ATP list. The greatest Croatian players will be joined by the British Tim Henman, the French Gael Monfils and Arnaut Clement, the Spaniard David Ferrer, Nicolas Kiefer, the Czechs Tomáš Bardych and Radek Štěpánek, along with others.

"These are distinguished names. However, mention should be made of several tennis players who are less well known to our public, but are playing very well this season and are in great form. The Italian Seppi, for example, who ousted Hewitt this week, and the French Serra, who won the Adelaide", concluded the director Horvat.

"Goran Ivanišević let me hold the title of president for the day. Unfortunately, during the Indoors I won't be in Zagreb, because I have to go to America. But everything will be perfect notwithstanding. I would like to ask the media to support us and to start respecting the Croatian sporting successes", announced the Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić.

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So with 1 WC to Marin Čilić I think at this stage it would be fair to say that the other two will be Alberto Costa and Andrew Murray.

 

Andy Murray Schedule from Monte Carlo to Wimbledon :

Monte Carlo April 15-23rd April : web site : http://montecarlo.masters-series.com/1005/
Barcelona April 24-30th : web site : http://www.openseatgodo.com/es/
Estoril May 1-7th : web site : http://www.estorilopen.net/
Rome May 8-14th : web site : http://www.telecomitaliamasters.it/
Hamburg May 15-20th : web site : http://www.dtb-tennis.de/AmRothenbaum/ 
Roland Garros May 28th-11th June : web site : http://www.fft.fr/rolandgarros/en/
Queens June 12-18th : web site : http://www.stellaartoistennis.com/
Wimbledon June 26th-9th July : web site : http://www.stellaartoistennis.com/

Withdrawls :

St Polten May 21-29th : web site : http://www.atpstpoelten.com/english/index.html
 

-- Edited by Drew at 14:20, 2006-04-13

I suppose it all depends how deep he goes into each tournament. The schedule over the last few weeks looked very hectic, but losing in the first round a couple of times left some spare time.

The danger is, if they don't enter a tournament, and then in the previous week he goes out early, he has to twiddle his thumbs while his competitors move on and up. If his goal is to be seeded at Wimbledon, he has to get the points from somewhere; we have seen this week how an early exit can drop him 4 places (and no guarantee it won't be more). He is not entered to play in either Houston or Valencia, while many of his rivals are, so he may drop even further then.

If he does go deep into a few tournaments we may see a few strategic withdrawals to give him a break.

Madeline wrote:

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Scratch St Polten from the list (week 21) - the entry list is out on steveg and Andy isn't on it.

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That seems eminently sensible, gives him a break the week before Paris.  He will just have played 5 weeks in a row climaxing with 2 Masters Series tournaments  ( and will have played loads of matches we hope ! ) 

RJA wrote:

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I'm sure that a lot of people would like Andy to play at Nottingham but I think he will be much better off avoiding it.

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Well, my daughter and I are two of them - we have tickets for the final!