Tournament Preview: Marseille 13 - 19 February 2006 OPEN 13 2006 The second European indoor tournament of the year and the first on French soil. This year's edition promises to be one of the best yet, with 3 of the top 10 players, 2 Grand Slam champions and plenty of exciting young guns all participating. The list is headed by Spanish world number 2, Rafael Nadal, who will be making his comeback after a 3 month injury lay-off, which saw him miss the Paris Masters, Masters Cup in Shanghai and Australian Open among other tournaments. He will be looking for a positive start to his 2006 campaign, which will see him have to defend many points from his stellar 2005. World number 6, Nikolay Davydenko from Russia is also heading to the South of France. One of the workhorses of the ATP tour, he enjoyed the best season of his career in 2005 and is coming off a quarterfinals appearance at the Australian Open last month, where he pushed Federer to 4 tight sets. Ivan Ljubicic, another player who enjoyed a sweetspot in his career in 2005, finishing in the top 10 for the first time. He has already won 2 titles this year in Chennai and Zagreb and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Always dangerous on the fast indoor surfaces, Ljubicic has a real chance of doing well in Marseille. Another top player making his comeback on the circuit after being sidelined for several months due to injury is Marat Safin. Unable to play since August last year, and therefore unable to defend his Australian Open title, his ranking has plummeted to 49, but he will be looking to change that over the next few months, starting in Marseille. 2002 Australian Open champion, Thomas Johansson of Sweden will also be making an appearance, as well as promising youngsters such as Mario Ancic of Croatia, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Igor Andreev of Russia and this year's surprise packet Australian Open finalist, Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who has lived in France since the age of 13. He will most certainly be a huge drawcard at this year's event. French fans will also see several of their compatriots in action, the most notable of which is 19 year old Richard Gasquet, who made it into the top 20 for the first time in his career last year. Sebastien Grosjean, recent quarterfinalist at the Australian Open, is another favourite, as are rising stars Gaël Monfils and Paul-Henri Mathieu, the latter of whom recently made it to the 4th round of the Australian Open. With the amazing field at this year's Open 13, there are bound to be some spectacular matches. With the comeback of Nadal, along with explosivity of youngsters like Baghdatis, and the constitency of Davydenko and Ljubicic, it will clearly not be an easy road to the final for anyone. Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 February are when qualifying is held and entrance is free. Monday to Wednesday, play starts at 11am, Thursday and Friday start at midday, semifinals on Saturday at 2pm and Sunday's final at 2.30pm. All night matches throughout the week will commence at 7.15pm. Tickets cost around 30 euros (see the official site for more info) and can be purchased online from the official site, from other outlets such as FNAC, Virgin Megastore and Carrefour or from the tournament venue itself. Open 13 is held at the Palais des Sports on Rue Raymond Teissere and the official hotel is the Sofitel Palm Beach. Marseille itself is a historic, port city on France's Mediterranean coast. For more tourist information on the city, visit the Marseille Tourism Office (http://www.marseille-tourisme.com/servlet/otcm?LANGUE=2&dist=1GP). Tournament Fast Facts: Venue: Palais des Sports, Marseille, France Dates: 13 - 19 February 2006 Singles Qualifying draw: 32 Main Draw Singles: 32 Main Draw Doubles: 16 Surface: Indoor hard Prize money: €489,000 Tournament Director: Jean-François Caujolle Main Draw Entry List: Nadal, Rafael ESP Davydenko, Nikolay RUS Ljubicic, Ivan CRO Johansson, Thomas SWE Gasquet, Richard FRA Stepanek, Radek CZE Ancic, Mario CRO Berdych, Tomas CZE Grosjean, Sebastian FRA Andreev, Igor RUS Rochus, Olivier BEL Nieminen, Jarko FRA Dent, Taylor USA Monfils, Gael FRA Verdasco, Fernando ESP Lopez, Feliciano ESP Herman, Tim GBR Rusedski, Greg GBR Rochus, Christopher BEL Srichaphan, Paradorn THA Youzhny, Mikhail RUS Sanguinetti, Davide ITA Mathieu, Paul Henri FRA Melzer, Jurgen AUT Baghdatis, Marcos CYP (WC) (WC) (WC) (Q) (Q) (Q) (Q) Alternates: Santoro, Fabrice FRA Zib, Tomas CZE Vik, Robin CZE Seppi, Andreas ITA Clement, Arnaud FRA Hernych, Jan CZE Djokovic, Novak SCG Bracciali, Daniele ITA Ascione, Thierry FRA Arthurs, Wayne AUS Wang, Yeu-Tzuoo TPE Lisnard, Jean-Rene MON Gimelstob, Justin USA Lee, Hyung-Taik KOR