Article

  • Tsonga joins Rafa in missing Rotterdam

    2/6/10 2:13 AM | Johan Lindahl
    Tsonga joins Rafa in missing Rotterdam Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has become the latest pullout victim in what is becoming an annual habit for the ABN-AMRO World Tennis tournament in Rotterdam.

    The Australian Open semifinalist, who was hammered a week ago by Roger Federer on the way to the world No. 1's 16th Grand Slam title, joins Rafael Nadal in missing the event.

    The late blow comes as result of a stomach muscle injury. "It bothered me in the quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic and in the semifinal against Roger Federer," Tsonga said on his website. "I hope I'll be able to go back to training next week without serving."

    The event has been plagued in recent seasons by late injury and other withdrawals, with a record 13 blotting an edition of several years ago.

    Nadal is resting a knee under doctor's order's at home on Mallorca with hopes of returning to tennis in early March. Rotterdam is also short last year's champion, with Andy Murray opting not to defend one of the six titles he won in 2009.

    The third-ranked Scot may still be shell-shocked over his Melbourne title loss to Federer, who now appears to have re-established ATP dominance after winning another major title. He looked glum earlier this week following his mother on a Melbourne city shopping trip.

    Swede Robin Soderling is on a wild card, with a chance to make up for his first-round exit in Melbourne. The Rotterdam field includes 2007 and 2008 champions Mikhail Youzhny and Michael Llodra, while Marcos Baghdatis will try to play after shoulder tendinitis at the Australian Open despite doubts on his participation.

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Comments

with murray missing rotterdam, he'll drop back to #4 with rafa going up to #3. there'll be 30 points in it

also gutted tsonga isn't there. i'll watch it coz nole is there, but with all the pullouts, it's not gonna be as good as it was last year

Sib69 , 2/6/10 2:43 PM


davy is playing too. something tells me we'll witness so many pullouts this year??

rfzr , 2/6/10 5:37 PM


did Djok have any points to defend there or everything to gain?

tennislover , 2/7/10 9:05 AM


Nole can only gain points in Rotterdam, but given his health issues I think he should have rested for a while as he needs to be healthy to defend his title in Dubai (which will be very difficult with the line up of the best players set to play Dubai..) And for the Scot, well, since Murray is not playing Rotterdam he will lose 500 points, and with Rafa losing 300, Rafa will come back to the 3rd place with only 70 points over... However, Murray is set to play Marseille, although it is only 250 event...

natashao , 2/7/10 10:20 AM


thanx,
what points do Djoko has to defened before the RG?

tennislover , 2/7/10 11:37 AM


before french open, nole has 3180 to defend, and only 90 to defend at french open. he has 1370 before clay court season

rafa (if anyone is interested) has 4580 before french open. 1480 before clay court season starts, and 180 at french open

Sib69 , 2/7/10 5:45 PM


If Rafa could hold on to his points before the FO then he'll have very little to defend for the rest of the year, so this is the crunch time, let's hope this year makes up for 2009.

Vamos

carrie , 2/7/10 6:29 PM


Thanx for the positive thoughts Carrie, it would be gr8 if Rafa could defend some points but what matters is that he is healthy enough for RG, then maybe he could find himself again and make up for last years losses thus gain lots of ground in the process! Vamos indeed!!!

afrodite7 , 2/7/10 10:58 PM


Only some of the best players will be in Dubai, but not the best player, Nadal! Vamos Rafa and speedy recovery.

LEOVIXEN23 , 2/10/10 12:11 AM


Nadal's RG outfit:

http://tennisconnected.com/home/2010/02/08/nadal-nike-frenc h-open-kit-2010/

atul1985 , 2/10/10 7:16 AM



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