Monte Carlo 2008

[Alya10]

YAY ;D
Now, let's hope the other Masters follow this lead

[Dina]

I've been missing french lately! lol!

[tinuviel]

I'm hoping to be in Monte Carlo so maybe will get to see him. Really hope so and hope he does well.

Fingers crossed for a good draw at the weekend - although will possibly be a tough one as he is wildcard.

[SAFINNO1]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - well done Monte Carlo organisers for showing some faith in Marat!

Hopefully he will justify his inclusion with a good showing next week!

Cant forget its a sunday start for this tournament.!!!!!!!!!

[maratski]

Let's hope Marat give not again a match he could easy win out of his hands !!!
Good luck Marat !!!

[helloticky]

good luck Marat Monte Carlo like your home sweet home come on Marat

[SAFINNO1]

MARAT SAFIN V XAVIER MALLISE - considering the depth of the draw this will be a good match for Marat but the downside could be a 2nd round meeting with fellow Valencia training partner David Ferrer!

H2H
Marat 2-2 Xavier. But Xavier has won their only meeting on Clay in Rome in 2002 in R32 6-3 6-4.
Havent played against each other since 2003!


Monte Carlo Draw
Federer [1] bye
Q - Simon
Monfils - Verdasco
Grosjean - Karloviæ
Robredo [12] - Wawrinka
Stepanek - Soderling
Haas - Q
Nalbandian [6] bye

Djokovic [3]
Kuerten - Ljubicic
Mahut - Volandri
Lopez - Murray [14]
Moya [10] - Querrey
Calleri - Seppi
Santoro - Q
Gasquet [7] bye

Youzhny [8] bye
Andreev - Tursunov
Almagro - Lisnard
Lee - Monaco [11]
Kohlschreiber [16] - Acasuso
Cilic - Kiefer
Chela - Q
Davydenko [4] bye

Ferrer [5] bye
Safin - Malisse ;D
Q - Starace
Tipsarevic - Mathieu [9]
Ferrero [13] - Llodra
Nieminen - Q
Q - Ancic
Nadal [2] bye

[Mrs. Fabregas]

DAVAI MARAT!!!!!!!!!


about the Dima vs. Igor and then one of the 2 will face Teddy , i feel a anti-russian conspiracy

[tinuviel]

The draw looks as good as could be expected for Marat given that he isn't seeded. Hope he can win at least two games this tourney.

Ancic has a Qualifier, but then could have to face Nadal. Bummer as i like them both.

I gree that the other Russian guys are a bit bunched up. Oh, well, at least that means one of them will get through to next round. Let's all be positive!!!!

[arvind13]

do you guys think Marat can get past ferrer. he's a clay court expert and world no.5. do you think his performance against berdych and Ferrero have brought back his form and restored his confidence?

[Anne]

Monte Carlo Preview ;D!

Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal leads the first clay ATP Masters Series tournament of the year. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who has defeated rival Roger Federer the last two years in the final, makes his season debut on clay. Over the past three seasons Nadal has won 107 of 110 matches on clay with 17 titles.

While Nadal is a strong favorite to become the first player in tournament history to win the title four consecutive years and Federer is aiming for another final showing, a Spaniard has won the title in five of the last six years (except '04).

Federer comes into the tournament as the top seed for the fourth consecutive year. The Swiss superstar could face No. 6 seed and long-time rival David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals (tied 8-8) with the Argentine winning the last two meetings in 2007. But both players will have to win two rounds before getting to the quarters. Federer will open against a qualifier or Frenchman Gilles Simon and the first seed he could face is No. 15 Ivo Karlovic.

But the Croat will have his hands full with veteran Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, a two-time Monte Carlo semifinalist, in the first round. The Gael Monfils-Fernando Verdasco winner could also be a possible third round opponent. Nalbandian will take on the winner of Robin Soderling-Tommy Haas in his opening round match and possibly No. 12 Tommy Robredo in the third round (Nalbandian leads 3-2).

In the second quarter of the draw, No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 7 Richard Gasquet are the highest seeds. Djokovic, making his season debut on clay, will play the winner of former two-time champion Gustavo Kuerten-Ivan Ljubicic (Kuerten leads Ljubicic 5-1) in his opening round match. Djokovic could meet No. 14 seed Andy Murray (vs. Feliciano Lopez) in the third round.

Gasquet takes on the Andreas Seppi-Fabrice Santoro winner and the first seed he could play is No. 10 Carlos Moya (vs. Sam Querrey), the 1998 champion and '02 runner-up. Moya has a 26-11 career record in Monte Carlo but he's looking to break a three-match first round losing streak since reaching the semifinals in 2004.

In the bottom half of the draw (third section), Russians Nikolay Davydenko (No. 4) and Mikhail Youzhny (No. 8) are the highest seeds. Davydenko will open against the Nicolas Kiefer-Juan Ignacio Chela winner and could meet No. 16 and last year's quarterfinalist Philipp Kohlschreiber (vs. Jose Acasuso) in the third round. Youzhny will face either countryman Igor Andreev or Dmitry Tursunov in his opening round match and possibly No. 11 Juan Monaco or unseeded Nicolas Almagro in the third round.

In the last section, No. 2 Rafael Nadal could meet two countrymen in the later rounds. No. 13 seed and former two-time champion Juan Carlos Ferrero (Nadal leads 5-1) is a possible third round opponent and No. 5 David Ferrer (Nadal leads 4-3, including 3-1 on clay), a three-time Monte Carlo quarterfinalist, in the quarters. Nadal opens with a qualifier or wild card Mario Ancic (Nadal leads 2-1) while Ferrero takes on Michael Llodra. Ferrer meets the winner of wild card Marat Safin and Xavier Malisse and his first seeded opponent is No. 9 Paul-Henri Mathieu (vs. Janko Tipsarevic) in the third round.

[SAFINNO1]

Apr 19, 2008 19:51:43 GMT 3 arvind13 said:

do you guys think Marat can get past ferrer. he's a clay court expert and world no.5. do you think his performance against berdych and Ferrero have brought back his form and restored his confidence?

Big Error - we have to get past Mr Mallise first - one step at a time but a match with David would be really interesting. Although Ferrer's game of just running and running would possibly frustrate Marat!

No doubles for Marat this week aswell and doesnt play on Sunday BTW!

Welcome to TGFR arvind though

[arvind13]

But Marat still has the talent and ability despite his ranking and losses this year. Overall, he has more raw talent than Ferrer and the majority of atp players. he beat berdych and Ferrero. so maybe it has given back his form. you can't say he has no chance. he has the talent to beat him.

[helloticky]

hade to hade.....ummmmm......still keeping my fingers crossed for him ;D

[SAFINNO1]

Apr 19, 2008 22:53:36 GMT 3 arvind13 said:

But Marat still has the talent and ability

LOL davis u were a bit quicker in replying this time

Ahhhhhhhhhh Arvind you remind me of a young me about 5 years ago - Marat doesnt have the talent or ability now to beat the best.

To put it simply the game has evolved so much under Roger Federer taking it to another level Marat has just lost touch and isnt up to pace to mount a serious challenge. Heck he couldnt do that even when he was at the top he was still hit and miss. Sure the injuries have played a part and has missed about 3 years on tour, i think we just all live in hope that he can reach the heights of AO 05 or US00.

I also think of the players as Haase, Reynolds, Melzer - player we beieve are beneath him - he doesnt want to play - he thrives for the big players and matches but he wont get to these players if he doesnt beat the beneath him player. He's also lost the fear factor, anyone will play Marat be it ranked 50 or 500 and can win, i mean i read somewhere beating Marat now is not even worthy of being called a scalp

I'm hope im not being too overly depressing but these are just my thoughts and im hoping at MC this week he can just put a good show, as long as he try's and fights and is enjoying playing tennis and i will be happy. and as ive said before Who Knows?