Search:



The Web

Rediff










Home > Sports > Tennis > Reuters > Report

Masters organisers hold crisis meeting

November 02, 2004 11:44 IST

The organisers of European Masters Series tournaments will meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss ways to curb the number of withdrawals by leading players from their events.

American Andre Agassi and Argentine David Nalbandian both pulled out from the Paris Masters at the last minute on Monday, adding their names to a long list of injured absentees.

World number one Roger Federer, Argentine Guillermo Coria, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and Spaniards Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero are also missing the 2.43-million euros Parisian indoor tournament.

"The tournament deeply regrets these withdrawals, which add up to an already too-long list of absent players in Paris, as in Madrid two weeks ago," organisers said in a statement.

Last week Paris Masters director Alain Riou said he was "very concerned" by the increasing number of withdrawals from the end of the season tournaments.

Also Read


Moya pulls out of Paris Masters

Coria, Ferrero pull out of Paris Masters

Agassi questions use of models as ball-girls

Sania touches new heights


Madrid organisers also complained at the growing number of big-name absentees which led to poor attendances.

"Regardless of the reasons for these no-shows, these withdrawals from the top tier tournaments of the ATP strongly discredit the ATP Tour as a whole," organisers added.

They said that ATP chief Mark Miles was aware of the necessity "to rapidly solve these issues".

"These questions will be discussed by the European Masters Series tournament directors who have a meeting scheduled on Tuesday in Paris," organisers added.

Miles on Saturday rejected suggestions that the calendar was too crowded and said players had only themselves to blame for burnout because they chose to compete in too many tournaments.



Article Tools
Email this article
Top emailed links
Print this article
Write us a letter
Discuss this article



Related Stories


Horna books match with Ferrero

Safin beat Nalbandian in final

Bhupathi-Mirnyi lose in semis








© Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.











Copyright © 2004 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.