That article is dated yesterday - it could be that the situation has changed; maybe he decided it was going to be too much to play them all, or did not get a WC he was expecting in Valencia.
Various websites are all saying that he's playing in Valencia. Non-appearance on tournament website might just be a failure to update ... though non-appearance on his sounds more indicative of a change.
-- Edited by Spectator on Saturday 11th of October 2014 07:12:17 PM
The more I think about this the less certain I am about what I think.
On the plus side it shows that he really wants to make the WTF but on the downside I think it is bad way of going about. Winning Vienna and not having much left for Paris doesn't really help his cause. So all in all I see this is a flawed decision but made on the basis on good motivations.
I'm not sure I agree. I thought the same about his three week Chinese block, but he won Schenzen - so an added 250 points, and as a consequence (at least in my head). Lost to Ferrer when he probably wouldn't have - so lost 90 points (I think Djokers would have beaten him anyway). Net gain 160 points.
He last played on Thursday, and has a R1 bye, so will have almost a week off. Paris will be tough anyway as he won't get that R1 bye. All in all worth the risk for my money.
My concern was based on him playing Vienna, Valencia and Paris as I don't really thing a week off between Shanghai R3 and Vienna R1 was enough to compensate for that. If however he isn't playing Valencia things make more sense. Paris really is the key as any gains he makes in the smaller events can be undone there so he needs to be in good shape for it and have a good week himself.
TENNIS - Andy Murray has decided to give up the wild card obtained for the ATP 500 tournament in Valencia
He seemed willing to give everything to scrape together the last stitches to qualify for the Masters year-end , so much so that , last week , Andy Murray had asked for and obtained two wild card , respectively, for the ATP 500 and 250 of Valencia and Vienna.
The Scot , however, has renounced the Spanish participation in the tournament , which kicks off on October 18th , where it will instead present David Ferrer, currently number nine in the race .
Yes, I think it is the pragmatic and right decision.
With a last counter in the race currently of 20 he can add up to 230 points this week and of course up to 1000 points in Paris. It should still be in his hands come Paris, we must just sit back and wait particularly next week to see how challenging the task is likely to be.
I was definitely worried about the idea of playing 6 weeks in a row. However it seems a bit odd to choose a 250 over a 500. Perhaps the idea is that the competition is significantly weaker in the 250, and you would think Andy should at least get to the final to meet Ferrer, so that would be 150 points (less 20 as per Indie's post). He would have to get to at least the semis to better that in a 500, which with stiffer competition and having to play an extra match to get there could be more difficult. Plus the week's rest just before Paris might be the appeal.
-- Edited by Madeline on Tuesday 14th of October 2014 03:22:54 PM
Valencia Open 500 @valencia_open News !! @juankiferri confirmed to the media at the Agora that Andy Murray will play the #valenciaopen500 #nadiesintenis
Valencia Open 500 @valencia_open News !! @juankiferri confirmed to the media at the Agora that Andy Murray will play the #valenciaopen500 #nadiesintenis
Yes, his pic is in the players' listing along with some other, quite frankly, scary mug shots. Check the eyes out, Andy looks quite human comparatively.