O.k., Estoril and Munich are not challenger events but the combination of pullouts and upsets is bringing them down to that level. Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro pulled out of Estoril and, improbably, Justin Gimelstob beat Nicolas Massu to get into the quarterfinals. Daniele Braccciali pulled out of Munich and Tommy Haas lost there in the first round.

Between them they have one ATP title (Portas) and spend much of their time playing challengers. Is that the product the ATP wants to put out there?

Gimelstob, who is 29 years old, will play Albert Portas who is even older at 33. Between them they have one ATP title (Portas) and spend much of their time playing challengers. Is that the product the ATP wants to put out there?

Nikolay Davydenko won the Russian title for the day beating Marat Safin in three sets. I had Moya through to the finals but I am changing that since Moya has been so ineffective lately.

Kristof Vliegen is having a very good year. He got to the third round at Miami and Monte Carlo and his ranking is up to number fifty. Juan Monaco got to the semis at Costa da Sauipe and Robin Vik was playing futures last year but it didn’t seem to matter. Vik beat Monaco and will meet Jarkko Neiminen in the quarters. I expect normalcy to return with a Nieminen victory.

It’s bad enough when pullouts happen at high profile tournaments, the organizers at the year-end tournament in Shanghai were mortified and unusually outspoken about the spate of injuries at the event they paid a lot of money for, but it trickles down to the smaller tournaments too. Estoril has two players in the top ten and five other seeds in the thirties. That is pathetic. Munich has the number nine, nineteen and twenty-five as its top three players. Just as pathetic.

Here are two ATP tournaments in the same week which will be followed by consecutive Masters Series events. This is not a matter of players fattening up with exhibitions instead of playing a sanctioned event. They’re resting before consecutive Masters Series tournaments, just what we told them they should do – play fewer tournaments!

The problem is that there is no compelling reason to change the system.

The problem is that there is no compelling reason to change the system. When a problem gets bad enough, someone does something about it. Look at the doubles revolution. Tournament directors were tired of subsidizing doubles players so they drastically changed the format for the first time in ATP history. Had doubles been tinkered with before, anyone know?

Tournament directors are complaining but if they were losing too much money, they would have made changes by now. The players are not complaining. Television coverage is up. What’s the problem?

I read the New York Times. Probably not intelligent, I know. Their sports section is often a day behind the news because their deadline is so early. Not only that, but it’s buried in the business section. On my way to the sports section every day, I read about businesses who didn’t take the necessary steps to increase their market and eventually failed. It’s an absurd idea if you think about it. The idea is to make a product and provide a job for willing workers. Why is it necessary to increase your stock value instead of maintain it?

We are not satisfied with dividends, we demand growth. Tennis has increased its market in Asia significantly but there are only so many top tennis players to go around. You can’t just upgrade the machinery to make more widgets. If you want more tournaments in Asia, somewhere else will lose tournaments else you will be left with lower level tournaments stocked with players who should be on the challenger circuit.

Eventually, spectators will find something else to watch.

Okay, onward and upward. Here are the rejiggered draws for Estoril and Munich.

(names in blue are my predictions)
ESTORIL OPEN

BMW OPEN – MUNICH