NASDAQ 100 Miami

[annie]

Hey well I guess it's time to start a new thread with Nasdaq 100 coming up on Monday.

Miracles happen but rarely. Still let's wish Maratik all the best of luck and keep our fingers crossed.

Here are the top 10 seeds in Miami. No surprises there.


1 Roger Federer

2 Lleyton Hewitt

3 Andy Roddick

4 Marat Safin

5 Guillermo Coria

6 Carlos Moya

7 Tim Henman

8 Gaston Gaudio

9 David Nalbandian

10 Andre Agassi

[edible]

Good luck Marat!! ;D

[annie]

All the luck in the universe to Marat!

[annie]

annie said:

All the luck in the universe to Marat!

Yeah annie, let's switch from that disastrous indian wells mood and keep positive

[SAFINNO1]

any news on when the draw is made as the website is not all that informative.

[alysha]

i think i read somewhere that tthe draws will be out tomorrow night...idunno....anyways good luckkk!!make us pproud!!

[pau]

Good luck Marat!! ;D

[Perri]

Please make at least quarters Marat!!!

[Andrada]

1 Roger Federer SUI
2 Lleyton Hewitt AUS
3 Andy Roddick USA
4 Marat Safin RUS
5 Guillermo Coria ARG
6 Carlos Moya ESP
7 Tim Henman GBR
8 Gaston Gaudio ARG
9 David Nalbandian ARG
10 Andre Agassi USA
11 Joachim Johansson SWE
12 Guillermo Canas ARG
13 Tommy Robredo ESP
14 Fernando Gonzalez CHI
15 Nikolay Davydenko RUS
16 Mikhail Youzhny RUS
17 Tommy Haas GER
18 Nicolas Massu CHI
19 Vincent Spadea USA
20 Dominik Hrbaty SVK
21 Feliciano Lopez ESP
22 Ivan Ljubicic CRO
23 Juan Ignacio Chela ARG
24 Nicolas Kiefer GER
25 Andrei Pavel ROM
26 Jiri Novak CZE
27 Thomas Johansson SWE
28 Sebastien Grosjean FRA
29 Radek Stepanek CZE
30 Mario Ancic CRO
32 Paradorn Srichaphan THA
33 Taylor Dent USA
34 Xavier Malisse BEL
35 Mardy Fish USA
36 Jurgen Melzer AUT
37 Fernando Verdasco ESP
38 Luis Horna PER
39 Rainer Schuettler GER
40 Filippo Volandri ITA
41 Max Mirnyi BLR
42 Olivier Rochus BEL
43 Florian Mayer GER
44 Greg Rusedski GBR
45 Karol Beck SVK
46 Tomas Berdych CZE
47 David Ferrer ESP
48 Rafael Nadal ESP
49 Igor Andreev RUS
50 Mariano Zabaleta ARG
51 Michael Llodra FRA
52 Albert Costa ESP
53 Cyril Saulnier FRA
54 Ricardo Mello BRA
55 Jose Acasuso ARG
56 Hyung-Taik Lee KOR
57 Ivo Karlovic CRO
58 Agustin Calleri ARG
59 Julien Benneteau FRA
60 Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP
61 Philipp Kohlschreiber GER
62 Gilles Muller LUX
63 Potito Starace ITA
64 Kevin Kim USA
65 Stefan Koubek AUT
66 Alberto Martin ESP
67 Jonas Bjorkman SWE
68 Jan Hernych CZE
69 Peter Wessels NED
70 Irakli Labadze GEO
71 Robby Ginepri USA
72 Thomas Enqvist SWE
73 Sjeng Schalken NED
74 Jarkko Nieminen FIN
75 David Sanchez ESP
76 Antony Dupuis FRA
77 Michal Tabara CZE
78 Victor Hanescu ROM
79 Sargis Sargisian ARM
Protected Younes El Aynaoui MAR


Annie already posted the first 10 but i thought U wouldn't mind having the whole list... ;D

I wonder when will the draw be out...

[Teresa]

Here are Marat's results from 2000 - 2004
Its interesting how he lost in the R64 in 2000 and 2001
then in 2002 he went to the quarters, and then in
2003 and 2004 he lost again in the R64..... is there a pattern here? also, he can do well in Miami, 2002 shows that he can. So hopefully this will the turn around year and he will do well. Good Luck Marat!

2004
R128 Bye, () 0
R64 Spadea, Vincent (USA ) 23 6-7(7) 7-6(4) 4-6

2003
R128 Bye, () 0
R64 Sanguinetti, Davide (ITA ) 49 6-7(11) 5-7

2002
R128 Bye, () 0
R64 Philippoussis, Mark (AUS ) 56 7-6(4) 6-1
R32 Horna, Luis (PER ) 130 3-6 6-3 7-6(3)
R16 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI ) 17 6-3 6-3
Q Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS ) 5 6-2 2-6 6-7(4)

2001
R128 Bye, () N/A
R64 Balcells, Juan (ESP ) 56 6-4 4-6 3-6

2000
R128 Bye, () N/A
R64 Vinciguerra, Andreas (SWE ) N/A 6-1 1-6 2-6

[Teresa]

SAFINNO1 said:

any news on when the draw is made as the website is not all that informative.

I think it will be done on Monday 21st, I am guessing sometime in the afternoon? but I think I read on the site it would be out Monday 21st.

[Andrada]

NASDAQ 100 OPEN - Press Release

Roddick, Agassi, Federer, Safin , Hewitt … they’re all coming here!


The 2005 NASDAQ-100 Open will once again showcase tennis at its absolute best as each of the top 78 men has committed to play in the 21st annual NASDAQ that begins March 23 on Key Biscayne.

The acceptance list is a ‘Who’s Who’ of men’s tennis: Andy Roddick (defending champion); Andre Agassi (six-time NASDAQ champion); Roger Federer (The No. 1 player in the world); Marat Safin (the man that beat Federer Down Under, 2005 Australian Open Champ) ; Lleyton Hewitt (No. 2 player in the world); Guillermo Coria (2004 NASDAQ finalist); Carlos Moya (Led Spain to a Davis Cup title); Nicolas Massu (Olympic Gold Medalist); Vince Spadea (local favorite, No. 19 player in the world).


The 79 players who are direct acceptances, a list which includes an injury exception for Morroccan Younes El Aynaoui, hail from 28 different countries.

[Teresa]

Russians enjoy rush of tennis power
By Charles Elmore

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 20, 2005

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — One year ago, no Russian woman had won a Grand Slam tennis title. The last to reach a Grand Slam final, Olga Morozova, faced Chris Evert at Wimbledon in 1974. From the sideline, she admired the perks for the winner, including a call from the U.S. president.

"I thought, 'That's great,' " said Morozova, now coach of No. 5-ranked Elena Dementieva. "One day, it will happen in my country. "


ONE SLAM AND COUNTING: Marat Safin is the last guy to enjoy knocking down Roger Federer, defeating the seemingly unbeatable No. 1 at this year's Australian Open to claim 2005's first Grand Slam victory.



It took three decades. But look out now.

If Serena Williams and Andy Roddick want to repeat as Nasdaq-100 Open champions in Key Biscayne in the next two weeks, they will have to put down a Russian revolution.

Marat Safin's victory in January at the Australian Open marked the fourth Grand Slam claimed by Russian men and women combined in the last eight major events. Russian players outnumber Americans in the top 20 in both the men's and women's tour coming into the Nasdaq, the world's largest tournament outside the four Grand Slams.

They were children barely picking up rackets for the first time when the old Soviet Union collapsed. Now they threaten a fundamental shift in the sport's international balance of power.

Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, all 17 to 22 years old, have won three of the last four women's Grand Slam trophies, two of them in all-Russian finals. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered congratulations in person at the French Open in Paris: "We love you and support you."

Not everyone finds the Kids of the Kremlin a riveting subject.

Serena Williams said she cannot even remember playing Sharapova for the first time in Key Biscayne a year ago.

"I honestly can't say I do," Williams said. "She would probably have a better memory than me."

Williams said reporters were "fabricating" the idea that she bristles at questions about Sharapova, 17, who beat her in last year's Wimbledon final.

"I've never gotten irritated about answering any questions about her," Williams said on a WTA Tour conference call last week from Palm Beach Gardens. "You guys don't realize, but I have a fashion company. I just walked into my office right now. I'm working on a really intense line for the fall. I'm an actress. I'm working on an animation series, different reality series. I'm working on so much stuff that I don't — not only her, if you would ask me about any people — because I have to focus on me."

All's fair in tennis and business

Sharapova has her own business interests (15 employees handle a perfume line and various modeling and endorsement ventures), but she has not forgotten playing Williams for the first time. The experience she gained in that loss in Key Biscayne helped her beat Williams at Wimbledon and the season-ending WTA championships, she said.

"Playing Serena helped me a lot when I played her again at Wimbledon," Sharapova said. "Just to feel her out, see what it's like."

Williams, ranked No. 4, evened her record against No. 3 Sharapova by fending off three match points en route to the 2005 Australian Open title. Yet Williams said she is not sure she is ready to call it a rivalry.

"Have I established a rivalry?" Williams said. "I don't know. You should ask her."

Sharapova sprayed shots wildly Friday in her first career shutout loss, 6-0, 6-0 against Lindsay Davenport in the Indian Wells semifinals. It was just her second defeat in 19 matches this year. Despite her ups and downs, Sharapova said she thinks there is very much a rivalry with Williams.

"We have amazing matches, and there's a lot of drama going on in our matches," she said. "You know, we both fight very hard, and we want to win, and we're big competitors. It's great because everybody's anticipating."

In Williams' defense, it is getting harder to keep up with the growing list of emerging Russian challengers.

Dementieva, ranked just behind Serena at No. 5, reached the finals of Key Biscayne and two Grand Slam events last year. She predicted Russian women will win two Grand Slams this year, though she declined to say which two. And the time has come for more tournaments on Russian soil besides the Kremlin Cup in October, she said.

"If there are going to be so many Russians, then I guess we need to have some more tournaments in our country," Dementieva said.

Her coach, Morozova, compared it to the rise of a generation of American men's players 15 years ago.

"I think of the time when Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Jim Courier were coming forward as a group," she said. "Maybe we're experiencing the same thing."

Injuries slowed down several of the top American women last year, from current No. 1 Davenport to the Williams sisters, Morozova acknowledged, but she thinks there is more to the story than a flash of Russian opportunism.

"The Williams sisters are incredible talents," Morozova said. "To say they cannot win more Grand Slams is ridiculous. But I think it is more difficult for them now. Every time before it was 6-1, 6-2, but I would say about 10 girls can do it now."

Strength of a country behind them

The Russian women are not cookie-cutter products of a state system, Morozova said. The breakup of the Soviet Union left the old government sports system in a severe money crunch, but it did bring something crucial for tennis: the freedom to travel. For the parents of female athletes in particular, tennis leaped out as a rare avenue to make it big.

Some players have remained in Russia, while others such as Sharapova have trained abroad. She came to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Bradenton at age 9.

"I hope she will come one day to Moscow, but I don't mind, whatever she wants to do, it's her choice," Morozova said. "If you look at all of them, they're different, and that's very good."

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, reflected last week that this generation of Russian players perhaps had to fight a little harder to make it.

"Even if we are hurt, we play, you know," she said. "It's something different with other players maybe. And when we were in Russia, it was so hard to get through this wall. ... Sometimes I trained in zero degrees, you know, indoors, because you don't have the money to pay the electricity or whatever."

If there is a common tie between the Russian players, it is that determination, she said.

"The more difficult things you've been through as a person, as a player, you grow stronger," she said. "And I think we are strong, every one of us."

As of last week, No. 4 Safin, No. 15 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 19 Mikhail Youzhny outnumbered Americans No. 3 Roddick, of Boca Raton, and No. 9 Andre Agassi in the men's top 20. Vince Spadea of Boca Raton ranked No. 21. Safin, who has won two Grand Slam titles, has established himself among the Big Four who rule men's tennis, and he remains the last to beat No. 1 Roger Federer in a Grand Slam tournament.

At 6-feet-4, Safin "moves really well for a big guy," Roddick said. When American Taylor Dent upset Safin midway through Indian Wells last week, Safin berated himself for inconsistent play and said that he has come up with "something new in order to play well in Miami."

Roddick said, "Sentimentally, I was pulling for Taylor just because he's a young American."

Russian women crowd the top 20 with eight players. Among other countries the U.S. comes closest to that mark, by only half.

Thirty years after wondering when a Russian woman would ever get a presidential phone call like Chris Evert, Olga Morozova can appreciate better than most what is happening now.

"They're actually living a tough life to get where they are, where presidents are visiting them," Morozova said. "But I think it will stay that way for some time."

[Cassie]

Come on Marat, gain some points here. You have almost nothing to defend!

[annie]

jeez, i really hope he does have "something new in order to play well in Miami." i will be praying for him...
when will the draw be out?