ATP Tour - Montanes takes last Madrid wildcard

Eurosport - Sat, 11 Oct 17:41:00 2008

Spaniard Albert Montanes has been awarded the third and final wildcard for the Madrid Masters along with Russian Marat Safin and Italian Fabio Fognini.

TENNIS 2008 ATP Stockholm Albert Montañés Montanes - 0

Spain's Carlos Moya, who had originally been nominated as one of the three wildcards, automatically qualified due to withdrawals, freeing up another slot.

But local favourite and former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero had already ruled himself out of the running. The 2003 Madrid Masters champion, currently ranked 44th in the world, was angry at being overlooked for one of the original three places.

"He was a little hasty. He could have entered the draw," tournament director said Manolo Santana.

A number of players, including compatriots Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, have come out in support of Ferrero saying that it was wrong that a Spaniard of his calibre was overlooked, but Santana defended the decision.

"Moya won a popular vote and was four places off qualifying on his own merits, and in the end entered because of withdrawals," he added.

"This is an international tournament. It is a business and the business has the right to take decisions be they right or wrong. It's a shame because we would have liked him to have played.

"Ferrero said he would not play even if we offered him an invitation so we gave it to Montanes who is the Spaniard just below him in the rankings."

The tournament runs from October 13-19.

Reuters

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  1. ferrero should hv got it and not thatfognini

    From baros_borghetti_diouf_gomes, on Sun 12 Oct 4:00PM

  2. It sounds as if Ferrero wasn't actually offered the­ invitation to play because he had already gone on­ record as saying he wouldn't accept it. If­ that's the case, they should still have gone­ thro' the formality of offering him the place, in­ case he'd changed his mind. You can't actually­ refuse a place unless it's officially offered to­ you. I hate the putrid argument that business interests­ should dictate who plays in Masters Series tournaments­ (Bill Gates v Michael Bloomberg in the first round cos­ their companies are sponsoring the event, anybody?).­ Santana is well off the mark with that proposaland in­ any case, I think even from the crass business point of­ view, Ferrero would still make more sense (no offence­ intended to Montanes, who undoubtedly deserves his­ place, but this was handled badly).

    From rhymes450, on Sun 12 Oct 4:04AM
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