Tournament Preview: Valencia, 8-16 April 2006 OPEN DE TENIS COMUNIDAD VALENCIANA While the Latin American "Golden" Swing takes place on clay in February, for many people the real clay season starts mid April and ends with the French Open in late May. During this time, all tournaments are played on the "red dirt" and include 3 Masters Series and 1 Gold Series event, culminating in the Grand Slam. To kickstart the clay season on the Continent, there is nowhere more appopriate than Spain, which has produced so many great claycourters over the years. The present day is no exception with Rafael Nadal at #2 in the world behind Roger Federer. While Nadal will not be playing this year, the 2006 event will still see some of the world's best in action. One of the major sponsors of the tournament is the JC Ferrero Equelite Tennis Academy. Juan Carlos Ferrero, a native of the Valencia province, has always displayed a great enthusiasm for developing tennis in Valencia and this was evident when the tournament moved from Mallorca in 2003 to be held at the Valencia Tennis Club. Since then he has been one of the leading figures of the tournament and this year has tried to get as many French Open champions and expert claycourters to come to the event as possible. Himself the 2003 Roland Garros champion, he will start as the number 4 seed. The player list will be headed by Russian world number 5, Nikolay Davydenko. A solid player on all surfaces, he displayed extra prowess on clay at last year's French Open where he reached the semifinals for the first time. Argentine world number 8, Gaston Gaudio, was the unexpected Roland Garros champion in 2004 when he defeated compatriot Guillermo Coria in a dramatic 5 set final. He is arguably one of the best claycourts around at the moment after Rafael Nadal, having won all 8 of his career titles on this surface., including Mallorca in 2002 (the equivalent of Valencia today). Ferrero's fellow Valencian, David Ferrer, rounds out the top 3. Currently at a career high ranking of 10, Ferrer will also be hard to beat on this surface. While he only has 1 career title to his name (Bucharest 2002), he has been very consistent, especially on clay and last year reached the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time. In 2005 he also reached the final here at his home tournament in Valencia, as well as won 2 doubles titles in Viña del Mar and Acapulco. He will no doubt be hoping to go one step further at this year's Valencia Open. The defending champion, though Russian, also has a strong connection with Valencia. Igor Andreev, current world number 26, has trained here for many years and considers it his second home. Another Russian who has a similar afiliation with the city is Marat Safin. Safin moved here at an early age to improve his tennis and frequently returns to train here during the year when he's not playing elsewhere. Despite his afinity with the city, he will be making his debut here this year, after receiving a wildcard. He has 2 claycourt titles to his name - Mallorca and Barcelona in 2000, and his best performance at Roland Garros was a semifinals appearance in 2001. Always a crowd favourite wherever he goes, he is sure to get a warm welcome in Valencia, where he hopes to improve his ranking after suffering an injury-induced slump. Another wildcard invitee and 2002 French Open champion, Albert Costa, will also be taking part this year. Costa brings the total of French Open champions at the event to 3, which is not a bad achievement for an Internaional Series. In the twilight of his career, Costa is still popular, especially in his native Spain, and will be hoping to put in a good performance. In 2004, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco won his first title here in Valencia. In 2006 he will be back again to try and recapture this title and will be joined by compatriot and good friend, Feliciano Lopez, as well as other dangerous claycourters Filippo Volandri, Andreas Seppi, Boris Pashanski and Alberto Martin amongst many others. This year's event starts on Saturday 8 April with qualifying, and main draw action getting underway on Monday 10 April. The main draw will be made on Saturday 8 April at 1pm on site. Monday and Tuesday's play will commence at 11am, Wednesday and Thursday at noon, Friday and Saturday at 1pm and Sunday's final at 2.15pm. Tickets are available online through the El Corte Inglés department stores and cost around 20 euros. The tournament is held at the Club de Tenis Valencia on Calle Botánico Cavanilles, which is accessible by bus, and the official hotel is the NH Center. Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain and will be the home of the America's Cup next year. It is a beautiful city with lots to offer the tourist, such as the lovely Plaza de la Reina, Plaza del Ayuntamiento and Plaza de la Virgen. From personal experience, I can also say the tournament is a lot of fun and well worth the trip to combine some great tennis action with a wonderful city. Tournament Fast Facts: Venue: Club de Tenis Valencia, Valencia, Spain Dates: 8 - 16 April 2006 Singles Qualifying draw: 32 Main Draw Singles: 32 Main Draw Doubles: 16 Surface: Outdoor clay Prize money: € 319 000 Tournament Director: Miguel Maeso Main Draw Entry List: Davydenko, Nikolay RUS Gaudio, Gaston ARG Ferrer, David ESP Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP Andreev, Igor RUS Volandri, Filippo ITA Verdasco, Fernando ESP Lopez, Feliciano ESP Tursunov, Dmitry RUS Sanguinetti, Davide ITA Malisse, Xavier BEL Seppi, Andreas ITA Pashanski, Boris SCG Martin, Alberto ESP Mayer, Florian GER Bracciali, Daniele ITA Zib, Tomas CZE Vik, Robin CZE Dlouhy, Lukas CZE Simon, Gilles FRA Phau, Bjorn GER Pavel, Andrei ROM Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP Hernych, Jan CZE Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP (WC) Safin, Marat RUS (WC) Costa, Albert ESP (WC) Alternates: Starace, Potito ITA Sluiter, Raemon NED Almagro, Nicolas ESP Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER Patience, Olivier FRA Portas, Albert ESP Hernandez, Oscar ESP Di Mauro, Alessio ITA Sabau, Razvan ROM Kunitsyn, Igor RUS Zabaleta, Mariano ARG Koubek, Stefan AUT Berrer, Michael GER Kim, Kevin USA