TMS Cincy消息-JMG,Martin將拿到外卡
from <www.cincypost.com>
Masters takes no back seat
By Victoria Sun
Post staff reporter
Hearing the phrase "warm-up" associated with the Western & Southern Financial G
roup Masters makes tournament chairmen Paul Flory cringe.
"I hate that word," Flory said emphatically Monday. "It sounds like, boy he's g
oing to practice his forehands here."
Tune-up isn't much better in his opinion.
"That's terrible too," Flory said, laughing.
People have often described tournaments leading up to one of the four Grand Sla
ms as warm-up or tune-up events because they think slams are the only ones that
matter and therefore the tournaments that come before them are simply practice
grounds for the main event.
That might be accurate for the smaller tournaments, but Flory takes issue with
the label when it comes to the $2.45 million Masters that will be held Aug. 2-8
in Mason, Ohio.
The Masters Series events are considered the next best level of tournaments sec
ond only to the Grand Slams events.
"I want this to be thought of as a great event that people want to win in its o
wn right," Flory said. "They win $400,000 if they win it so that's not chopped
liver."
Last year the tournament date was moved from three weeks before the U.S. Open t
o two weeks before.
This year the event is being held even earlier so that it won't conflict with t
he Olympics. The U.S. Open starts Aug. 30.
"We had to move it because we couldn't go against the Olympics because we'd los
e too many players," tournament director Bruce Flory said.
As it stands, the top 51 players on the ATP Tour are entered into the main draw
of the 64-player field, including defending champion Andy Roddick, two-time ch
ampion Andre Agassi and Wimbledon champion and No. 1-ranked Roger Federer.
By August, the field could change if a player is injured and has to withdraw, a
reality every tournament chairman faces.
"It's terrific to have them all coming in like that," Paul Flory said. "There's
going to be players injured (and pull out); that happens. You saw that at Wimb
ledon. They didn't feel they were fit or if they pull a muscle, they may not sh
ow up."
Eight players will advance to the main draw by winning two matches during the 3
2-man qualifier on July 31 and Aug. 1.
Americans Todd Martin and Jan-Michael Gambill received two of four wild cards i
nto the tournament. Martin is ranked No. 75 and Gambill No. 73 on the ATP Tour'
s entry ranking system.
The other two wild cards are expected to be awarded about a week before the eve
nt.
Former champion Thomas Enqvist, hard-serving Briton Greg Rusedski, Thomas Johan
sson, Wayne Ferreira and Tommy Haas are among those being considered for the tw
o remaining wild cards.
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