Yeah, but I kinda hope that he'll be feeling sore and tired on the final Sunday of Roland Garros, and still have to rouse himself to thrash Djokovic in the final. With a week to recover between Rome and Paris, I'd have thought he could have profitably put himself through a "training marathon" here, pushing himself to the limit of fatigue, before embarking on another more important one on Monday week.
Having never been a professional athlete, I type in complete ignorance.
How many days recuperation time would Andy have needed if he'd played a full week for a 3rd week in a riw, and related to that how much preparation time for the French Open would have been left ? Certainly not ideal. Priorities, priorities ...
Apart from anything else I am sure he would more risk injury in a rather less than fresh state through some laboured or lazy movement.
Good advice from Amelie, well taken by Andy
I loved last week, I am relieved that he has cut short this week.
Me too. The three tournaments in a row at the end of last year were all small tournaments, and not just before a slam. Instead they were before WTF - and look what happened there. The difference is they were needed to get him into WTF; these three weeks are NOT needed for RG.
I do think that it is just overall fatigue, physical and probably mental as well and travelling.
I don't think there is any injury issue here, although clearly I have no real idea.
I got the impression that it had crossed his mind to not play Rome at all, just by the very fact that he made a point of saying he was travelling to Rome.
It all does seem pretty understandable to me and no great surprise. I was kind of anticipating it before a Ferrer QF.
Er, yeah... did you miss the various interviews (including the post-match one after beating Rafa) after Madrid? He made it quite clear that he was seriously considering withdrawing from Rome, but wanted some match practice 'at sea level'. I don't think that was in any doubt.