Will Nadal be penalised for withdrawing from Basel?

Nadal announced yesterday that he wouldn't play in Basel next week after all.

Hi all, sorry to announce that I won't travel to Basel in Switzerland but after very exhausting weeks I have to regroup my fitness and my body. I will do my best to come back to the Swiss Indoors next year.

Nadal has already fulfilled his quota of 4 ATP500 tournaments (Acapulco, Barcelona, Beijing and Monte Carlo), however there is still that much discussed (on 606V2) rule in the ATP rulebook on withdrawing from ATP500 tournaments:    

C. ATP World Tour 500 – Ranking Penalty. A player’s (Commitment and Non-Commitment players) withdrawal from an ATP World Tour 500 event whether on time or after the 12 noon deadline, shall result in a zero (0) point ranking penalty. Further non-consecutive withdrawals shall result in a zero (0) point ranking penalty assessed for each additional withdrawal. Players with multiple consecutive withdrawals who are out of competition for 30 days or longer due to injury will not be subject to a ranking penalty as long as verified and approved medical forms are provided; or, a player shall not have the ranking penalty imposed if he completes the Promotional Activities requirement as specified under “Repeal of Withdrawal Fines and/or Penalties” or if
the on-site withdrawal procedures apply. Players may also appeal withdrawal penalties to a Tribunal who will determine whether the penalties are affirmed or set aside.*
A player who has received a zero (0) point ranking penalty for withdrawing from an ATP World Tour 500 event may replace the zero (0) point by playing an additional ATP World Tour 500 event in that same calendar year for a total of four (4) played. The replacement tournament must be after the 500 withdrawal that has resulted in a ranking penalty. Only one (1) additional ATP World Tour 500 event per year may be used to replace an ATP World Tour 500 ranking penalty.
*NOTE: Commitment players who are unable to fulfill their commitment, are not eligible to appeal the ranking penalty.

It seems from Nadal's statement that he is not injured (just regrouping) and that he does not intend to travel to do any tournament promotional activities. So does a zero point penalty still apply even though the required number of tournaments have been played? If it does, than Nadal's Vina del Mar points will remain uncountable. He still in pole position for YE number 1, but would be very interesting if he missed it because of penalties and uncountables.

This is Nadal's way of helping his good friend Federer keep his hopes for WTF alive.


PS: Hopefully this does not turn into a cruel joke/trick.

There is more controversy to the withdrawal than that though.. The tourney director who had a very public (on his part) argument wit Federer and/or his agent last year, brought in Nadal for a huge payout as a kind of fall back draw as at the time Nadal signed, there was a chance that Federer wasn't going to play. Federer decided the tournament meant enough to him that he entered without a contract which means Federer is playing for no appearance fee and prize money only. So that worked out well for the tourney but the flip side is they couldn't use Federer's name and image on any of the adverstisements, promotions-- since he's playing without a contract.. So they focused all of their marketing on Nadal..... Nadal royally screwed them by pulling out..

Federer is actually saving them though as he being there is more than enough draw to make the tourney profitable (with Federer as the headliner the past however many years- the tourney is actually the most profitable tournaments of all the 500's and more than several 1000's. So Nadal pulling out won't hurt the box office like it would have if Federer had truly not played-- it's still a big egg on the face of the tourney director though to have paid Nadal money and focused all that promotion on him only to have Nadal withdraw, while he could have just paid Federer and healed that relationship.

I think the incident in Basel will be brushed under the carpet! Boom Boom!

@TRu ... I quite agree with your analysis. But Nadal has played 73 matches since February and is probably tired genuinely. He does not do well in this part of the season anyway.

TRuffin, I did consider reviving this article with the back story:
https://www.606v2.com/t43599-nadal-to-play-basel

It's quite funny reading it back now that Federer is playing and Nadal not. Although Valencia has the higher ranked player in Ferrer, Basel has a more interesting field with Del Potro plus virtually all the players trying to qualify for the WTF - Berdych, Wawrinka, Federer, Gasquet.

YvonneT wrote:Although Valencia has the higher ranked player in Ferrer, Basel has a more interesting field with Del Potro plus virtually all the players trying to qualify for the WTF - Berdych, Wawrinka, Federer, Gasquet.

How unlike Ferrer to be in with a shot of scoring some decent points at an event with a pretty weak field.

HM Murdoch wrote:How unlike Ferrer to be in with a shot of scoring some decent points at an event with a pretty weak field.

In points terms, the last couple of years, the vast majority of his points have come from slams and masters. However, in scheduling terms, he's still playing far more 250 tournaments than can be counted. From the start of the Asian swing to the tour finals, he's playing 7 weeks in a row including two 250's when he can only be adding a hundred points or so max. Seems crazy to me, but maybe his focus is on maximising income not ranking at this point in his career.

Presumably whatever monies Nadal was due to get...he doesn't now?

Henman Bill wrote:Presumably whatever monies Nadal was due to get...he doesn't now?

No, he'll still get a good portion.. That is paid ahead of time as payment for the tournament using his image/likeness on their advertising/merchandising.. It happens all the time in plenty of sports- Federer saved the director as there would have been a huge backlash if the public has shown up and no Federer and no Nadal as they had been promised.

Henman Bill wrote:Presumably whatever monies Nadal was due to get...he doesn't now?

I think Nadal deserves his monies. The one who doesn't deserve the money is Roger. You know who I am talking about?

Roger Laver wrote:

Henman Bill wrote:Presumably whatever monies Nadal was due to get...he doesn't now?

I think Nadal deserves his monies. The one who doesn't deserve the money is Roger. You know who I am talking about?

Interesting use of Post Title box, if I may say so, RL. Welcome to 606v2. May you post on 606v2 for long!

Roger Laver - that's very crude. How about Love Laver. It has a better ring to it anyway as well as being more subtle.

Thank you Laver fan for your welcome. You must be a super brilliant moderator! most people do not notice subtle changes like the post title

I like your ID..... We have atleast a 50% match

Henman Bill:

How can anything associated with Roger be crude? He is the epitome of silk and smoothy. Love Laver, IMO [I dislike humility  ], is loud - no offense.

I get it he's tired and he did look slow around the court on the Asian swing of events. But , Isn't he signed up to play some exhibition matches in November against Fat Dave who recently retired?

http://www.batravelguide.com/2013/07/exhibition-match-rafael-nadal-vs-david.html

Roger Laver wrote:Thank you Laver fan for your welcome. You must be a super brilliant moderator! most people do not notice subtle changes like the post title

The SuperMod moniker should deservedly go to my partner-in-crime, JuliusHMarx (who I lovingly refer to as JHM). He is brilliant and an absolute sweetheart.

The credit for the site/Tennis section is due, a. to the posters, and, b. the Admins. As Emancipator would say, I am just a Minion (or a Peon - take your pick).

Roger Laver wrote:I like your ID..... We have atleast a 50% match

I am glad, I like yours too.

laverfan wrote:

Roger Laver wrote:Thank you Laver fan for your welcome. You must be a super brilliant moderator! most people do not notice subtle changes like the post title

The SuperMod moniker should deservedly go to my partner-in-crime, JuliusHMarx (who I lovingly refer to as JHM). He is brilliant and an absolute sweetheart.

I can fool some of the people some of the time

My Life skills teacher always said humility is an untrustworthy trait.... What do you REALLY think about Julius, LF? I swear I won't tell him...

Well, to answer my original question, the rankings have been updated and Nadal has not been given a zero point penalty for late withdrawal from Basel. I'm curious as to why not. Perhaps they thought it would be too cruel?  

kingraf wrote:My Life skills teacher always said humility is an untrustworthy trait.... What do you REALLY think about Julius, LF? I swear I won't tell him...

… but I can. I have known JHM (as best you can get to know a person on an Internet discussion board) for several years. Fantastic sense of humor and makes me laugh, sometimes LMAO. I will offer him a single malt, if he shows up at my door.

YvonneT wrote:Well, to answer my original question, the rankings have been updated and Nadal has not been given a zero point penalty for late withdrawal from Basel. I'm curious as to why not. Perhaps they thought it would be too cruel?    

Commitment players (top 30 in 2012 year-end ranking) can count their best six (6) results from ATP World Tour 500, ATP World Tour 250 and other events (Challengers, Futures, Davis Cup, Olympics) toward their ranking. To count their best six (6), players must have fulfilled their commitment to 500 events - 4 total per year (at least 1 after the US Open).

Additionally, commitment players will no longer need to enter the 500 events 12 weeks in advance but instead go back the normal 6-week entry deadline.

According to this, he should. He probably appealed to the EHtCR.

Laver Fan:

Thank you for the rose and tha too a red rose

Hello to Julius, Eric, Kingraf and Yvonne!

Hope to read more stuff from you guys in the coming fays!

Do you guys have a bracket contest for the Paris Masters? Who you picking as winner?

Laverfan, I'm not sure why you've quoted that part of the rules in your post above, as Nadal has fulfilled that

...players must have fulfilled their commitment to 500 events - 4 total per year (at least 1 after the US Open)....

He's played Acapulco, Barcelona, Monte Carlo (which counts as a 500 for these rules) and Beijing.

The rule I was questioning was the penalty for withdrawing from a ATP500 as quotes in the original article.

YvonneT wrote:The rule I was questioning was the penalty for withdrawing from a ATP500 as quotes in the original article.

It is more than likely because there are no additional ATP 500s remaining in the calendar to address the requirement. If I recall, Federer was carrying a zero pointer for Washington, but he no longer has it in his RB.

The reason for the quote was to highlight the commitment toward 4 ATP 500s.

Roger Laver wrote:Laver Fan:

Thank you for the rose and tha too a red rose

You are welcome.

Roger Laver wrote:

Do you guys have a bracket contest for the Paris Masters? :)Who you picking as winner?

https://www.606v2.com/t46951-606v2-atp-picking-game-rogers-cup

and

https://www.606v2.com/t42035-606v2-world-tour-2013-list-of-tournament-specific-threads

There is nothing identical to the MTL PG.

Thanks for the links Laver Fan!

Probably not but he should have played given all the tournament put into investing him. Plus he is putting himself in mild danger of losing the year end #1. Will probably still get it, but he should have played.

Interesting to know why he hasn't been penalised. Maybe he will be once he plays this week in Paris (meaning he cant fulfil the injury criteria). On the face of it, he fits squarely within the rule Yvonne has quoted.