GABASHVILI, Teimuraz RUS - BYE [Gabashvili replaces Federer] JOHANSSON, Thomas SWE vs. Q SPADEA, Vincent USA SIMON, Gilles FRA vs Q BRACCIALI, Daniele ITA [14]NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN - BYE
[12]DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB - BYE SEPPI, Andreas ITA vs. MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs. GROSJEAN, Sebastien FRA [6]ROBREDO, Tommy ESP - BYE
[4]DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS - BYE LL ROCHUS, Christophe BEL vs. ACASUSO, Jose ARG ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP vs. BJORKMAN, Jonas SWE [15]TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS - BYE
[9]ANCIC, Mario CRO - BYE VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL vs. [WC] SERRA, Florent FRA BENNETEAU, Julien FRA vs. SANTORO, Fabrice FRA [5]GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI - BYE -------------------- [8]BERDYCH, Tomas CZE - BYE ROCHUS, Olivier BEL vs. Q TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB GINEPRI, Robby USA vs. Q MIRNYI, Max BLR [11]FERRER, David - BYE
[13]MURRAY, Andy GBR - BYE CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG vs. SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn THA ANDREEV, Igor RUS vs. MONFILS, Gael FRA BYE vs [17] Hrbaty, Dominik SVK [Hrbaty replaces [3]NALBANDIAN, David ARG]
[7]BLAKE, James USA - BYE Clement, Arnaud FRA vs MASSU, Nicolas CHI [Clement replaces HRBATY, Dominik SVK] VERDASCO, Fernando ESP vs. Q LLODRA, Michael FRA [10]HAAS, Tommy GER - BYE
[16]Gasquet, Richard FRA - BYE [WC] GICQUEL, Marc FRA vs. WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI SAFIN, Marat RUS vs [WC] Mahut, Nicolas FRA [Mahut replaces CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA] [18]SODERLING, Robin SWE - BYE [Soderling replaces NADAL, Rafael ESP]
What i dont understand about safin, is that how he can have a protected ranking when it should be 'protected for six months' or is it longer? also can he protect his ranking even though he has been playing since march?
apperantly it is becuase if he reaches the final he will have to ttravel 5 or 6 time zones for a tourament to start the next day. saying he was too tired to play.
i cant believe the tourney accepted his withdrawal! Firstly, won a tourney literally next door from france! Secondly, he beat Gonzalez comfortably in straight sets. Thirdly, he would have has wednesday start. Fourthly, its the last tourney of the year, whether he won a round or not, he still should have competed!
I must admit as a Federer fan, I am glad he has withdrawn. He is not used to playing tournaments back-to-back, and don't forget he won both the last two, so has played a lot of tennis. Playing Paris would mean risking he would get an injury or be too fatigued for the Masters Cup.
It is a shame for the tournament, for a Masters to end up looking like a "Mickey Mouse" event, but this is surely the fault of the ATP for bad planning - although to be fair, Fed could have had a week's rest between Madrid and Paris had he not played Basel. It is surely understandable though that he wanted to win his home town tournament for the first time. So really it was just an unfortunate sequence of events.