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Novak, stanislas in tired final
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SportsDesk on 11 May, 2008 04:53:01
 
Rome: Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka will emerge from all the fallen and
broken bodies around them to contest the Rome Masters Series final on Sunday.
In a season when the Association for Tennis Professionals has repeatedly come
under fire for its scheduling of the clay court season, in particular, the
Serbian third seed and the Swiss no. 2 have found themselves left as the only
men standing in the Italian capital.
The last three matches have all been decided by retirements leaving the victors
well rested and the spectators more than just frustrated. Wawrinka spent only
about 20 minutes on court in his semifinal, before American sixth seed Andy
Roddick succumbed to a back problem with the score at 3-0 in the first set.
Djokovic played for a bit longer but he was 6-0, 1-0 up on Radek Stepanek, who
the previous day had eliminated world no. 1 Roger Federer, when the Czech
decided he was too weak to continue. That came only about 18 hours after
Djokovic’s quarterfinal had been cut short, with him leading 6-1, 1-0, after
Spaniard Nicolas Almagro decided his wrist was too painful to continue. Some
fans had paid up to €235 for a centre-court seat to watch the semifinals. They
saw only 10 one-sided games. Just as Rafael Nadal had launched into the ATP for
the schedule this year, Djokovic complained following his match.
"We are all trying to make this sport more popular and better, we’re all
working for the good of the sport," he said.
"Especially the players at the top and the ones who are playing a lot of
matches are not happy with the schedule this year. That’s certainly a task to
talk about because of the really tight schedule of the Masters Series events."
"We’re all aware of the fact that the Olympics are making it even more
difficult but this is something that we need to talk about in the future. I’m
not criticising anybody but it’s just very important to take care of the
players because you don’t want to have these kind of situations at big events,
the players retiring in the semifinals and the quarterfinals after one set."
(AFP)