Chennai Open 2006 .. (P$ & Bops into doubles Final!!!)

[jayakris]

I had emailed Mahesh yesterday. He replied today and said basically it was an issue with their not doing anything to bring Moodie in. He did not deny the appearance money aspect, but he explained in detail how this turned out (as I had guessed, I think he knew that they would take care of himself like they have normally done every year - so the few thousand $$ was not suddenly an issue for him personally).

Mahesh had told them 2.5 months back that Moodie will be his partner, and nothing happened. They said they needed to first tie up the singles field (Nadal, etc) and then no news. Then MB heard from IMG folks while at Madrid that the singles field is all done (nadal, Moya etc handled), and still nothing was happening on Mahesh-Moodie. Moodie entered at Doha which is a much bigger event, and now MB will play there too, as they have to get ready for AO (Hesh said he was actually inclined not to play anywhere if he was not playing at Chennai, but said he got talked into going to Doha in the end).

Most importantly, Hesh said he did not want to make a big media issue about it. He had asked me to actually convey this to you folks through PMs, but I thought I would as well explain here, because we have already discussed it a lot, and it would be unfair to inform just some of you and leave other readers guessing and speculative discussion continuing.

So, essentially it was exactly what I had guessed - right from when I saw Moodie's name in the Doha entry list. Here is what I wrote in this thread then - "Bjorkman ended up as last entry at #64 for Doha. Terrible. They should have given him money to come ... Even worse, MB's partner for 2006, #63 Wesley Moodie, is in the Doha list as the second-last entry. I just DO NOT understand what the Chennai organizers are doing, not pursuing him!! ... Incredibly poor job, except with Nadal." ... I guess I sensed that the Chennai organizers had messed it up badly.

In my personal view, this was a bit of a comedy of errors. It is a new thing for the Chennai guys having to deal with a high-ranked singles player coming as a doubles partner for LP or MB. They were really slow-footed in getting up to speed on this matter, I think.

Let us drop the issue now, though. It is over and MB does not want to make an issue of it. In my view, generally he has been a friend of people who run the Chennai Open, and I don't think he wants to attack them or anything. This is just something where he could not do much in the end.

This is an informational post. Not for discussion. We have talked enough speculatively, and our speculations were not off the mark either. Now I have told you what happened. Other than anybody from the Chennai organizers wanting to write in with any additional info, any further discussion by any of you readers on this will be DELETED. Just my attempt to keep this issue from getting out of hand.

Jay

[amr090]

hmm...interesting...well whats done is done.

i just really hope Nadal is healthy. Hopefully if he likes the tournament they can get Federer next year! THAT should really bring people to the seats....since Federer likes cricket...they should try to get Tendulkar to come to the tournament...that may be some incentive for FedEx....because the money isnt going to be.

[jaydeep]

Thanks for post Jay .. But as days r going Rafa's participation looks doubtful and Chennai Open organiser fail to attract other exciting players ... Bad planning from them ... Jay put it rightly still no article in newspapers carrying entrylist or build up articles for Chennai Open ... These things not atall helping to popularising game in India.

Jaydeep.

[dingchak]

How many of you Mahesh haters live in US?

Hello, where did USA come into this discussion? .. This is not the first time I am seeing some sort of anti-US or anti-US-NRI opinion coming out with no reasons. Strange!

In any event, I live in US (so does Bhushan) and both of us have written without blaming Mahesh at all. In fact in the above discussion, I think there may be more people justifying Mahesh than otherwise..

Don't take my line out of context. Apparently, some people here were getting too passionate about what Mahesh should or should not be doing for India so I was just putting things in perspective by asking the people who are living outside india how much they have done for the country. Its easy to pass judgements on others. I am fully with Mahesh on this if you read my post again.

BTW, thanks for clarifying with Mahesh.

[jayakris]

I still don't understand what you meant by bringing US NRIs into it, but I take you word that you meant no disrespect

Jay

[jimmy]

Anyways ...... posted. To me, when I was growing up and playing, I idolized LP and MB, as stars off the court and the manner with which they seemed to handle themselves off the court: soft spoken, humble and ever gracious.
Events over the last year from the LP-HM Davis Cup fiasco, to MB cursing at a fan, to now MB not playing in the only tournament in India, have just brought them off the pedestal I had them on. I realize now they are [u]really nothing special compared to the other journeyman players of the world, just above average tennis players.[/u]

This is a piece of regrettable personal attack on Mahesh based upon some hearsay things.

Look money or no money...if it was me, I would play in my coutry's :D only ATP tournament with a lot of pride and honor. If we have our own players not going to play in our only tournament...then why the hell should we expect a guy like Roger Federer? .

In this world of dual and multiple loyalty , it would be less confusing if you name "your country".

[amr090]

This is a piece of regrettable personal attack on Mahesh based upon some hearsay things.

Oh Jimmy once again you try to provoke another forum member as usual with your posts. But its not really worth a reply, so Ill let it go.

Is the chennai open website up yet? The tournament is less than a month away.

[arjun2761]

This is a piece of regrettable personal attack on Mahesh based upon some hearsay things.
[

Actually, a lot of those things were directly observed and not hearsay as your erroneously imply

[jaydeep]

Is the chennai open website up yet? The tournament is less than a month away.

Arun its the same which we follows ... ie

http://www.chennaiopen.org/

Jaydeep.

[jayakris]

Some good news on Nadal -- He got back to court yesterday!

Here is the latest on Nadal, from El Mundo Deportivo (Dec 24th) -
http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20051224 ... 76848.html
(translated by Alta Vista)

"Rafa Nadal Returns"
24/12/05 03:00 h.
Rafa Nadal returned yesterday to the tracks and faced Carlos Moyà in the Palacio de los Deportes de Son Moix, in Palma, as part of an exhibition whose proceedings will go to the Foundation Vicente Ferrer and the Project Man. Nadal, who did not play from the 23 of October, when he was injured at the end of the Madrid Masters match against Ljubicic, and Moyá played only a Set before about 3,000 spectators. Moyá won by 9-6 in a best one of nine games match than lasted near one hour. The Majorcans tried to please the fans at the polideportivo, whose central enclosure was prepared with the same surface on which the Madrid Masters is played.
-----

Hope he comes down to Chennai.

Jay

[jayakris]

Argh ., just about 6 days to go before the Chennai qualies sign-in, and the tournament website still has hardly any articles or anything. Neither am I seeing anything much in the press about the Chennai Open ..

Jay

[BSharma]

Jay wrote:

Neither am I seeing anything much in the press about the Chennai Open ..

The new slogan at India's only ATP event:

Chennai Open - the best kept secret for great tennis action

[jayakris]

Vishal *earned* that wildcard to Chennai by beating Karan and Rohan and winning the National grasscourts .. Yes, it is a bit weird to give a grasscourt winner a WC to a hardcourt event, but that is how it was announced and so it is fair (only that the very late announcement of the WC and the timing of this event were not great)

OK, now we have, in the last month

Vishal d. Rohan
Vishal d. Karan
Karan d. Rohan
Karan d. Harsh
Harsh d. Vishal

So, who is best? ... Kidding. Transitivity does not mean much in tennis. Perhaps Rohan really lost his ability to demand a wildcard, losing to two of them, and Prakash has completely no argument to get a wildcard due to his not having played any of them, and Harsh only has an argument only after Vishal and Karan get wildcards. That is if rankings are disregarded.

You know what would be fair? ... Do not give a WC to all three of our top players - Harsh, Prakash, Rohan. Give WCs to Vishal, Karan and then Sanam Singh, the youngster with the best performance in recent months.

Let all three of them play qualies. After all, the top three ranked players, with the most experience against foreign players, probably have the best chance to come through the qualies at Chennai!

That is my view. Giving a WC to any of our top three would be rather unfair (if their rankings, and past performance at Chennai are all disregarded - as is often done at Chennai).

Jay

[*sridinats*]

Perhaps Rohan really lost his ability to demand a wildcard, losing to two of them, and Prakash has completely no argument to get a wildcard due to his not having played any of them, and Harsh only has an argument only after Vishal and Karan get wildcards. That is if rankings are disregarded.

You know what would be fair? ... Do not give a WC to all three of our top players - Harsh, Prakash, Rohan. Give WCs to Vishal, Karan and then Sanam Singh, the youngster with the best performance in recent months.

Jay

According to the PTI website it seems that Rohan wont get a wildcard for the Chennai Open coz his performance at the national grasscourts, i.e. reaching the finals means he has got a wildcard for the qualies!

is it possible that someone granted a wildcard for the qualies is later given a wildcard for the main draw?

Sridhar

[jayakris]

Sridhar - That does not mean that he won't get a main draw WC to Chennai. Had it been a player who needed a WC to make the qualies, one would have been given, that is all. There is no reason to take him out of consideration for a main draw WC on the basis of that!

is it possible that someone granted a wildcard for the qualies is later given a wildcard for the main draw?

No. Once you are in the qualifying draw, you cannot be given a main draw wildcard. Generally the main draw wildcards are decided by Friday evening before the qualifying draw is made, though I think they are allowed to wait till the singles draw is made on saturday or sunday and can give it to anybody who is not in the qualifying draw.

Jay