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[Aileen]

Andy tweet around 5 pm BST Friday -

"Congrats to thomas he played better than me today and deserved the win, on to barcelona 2night, anyone got a spare ticket for el classico?"


Well here we go - another week, another tournament.  Hopefully Andy will fare better here than he did in MC.  He's also playing doubles with Jamie.

Fairly strong field headed by - Nadal, Murray, Ferrer, Berdych, Tipsarevic, Almagro, Lopez, Nishikori

[Apollo]

Every time I hear the word Barcelona, I just think of this



and it makes me smile.

Andy playing tennis again next week also makes me smile

I hope that it's a good tournament for him and Jamie.  Same time zone, so roughly same kind of schedule for me for watching

I tried to watch the youtube, but it came back with the uploader has not made this video available in your country....how funny.

[Aileen]

Every time I hear the word Barcelona, I just think of this

Thanks Bev.  I've never heard this before.

Meantime I hope Andy gets better scheduling here, that the courts are in a good condition and that if he plays the Birdman again he gives him a thrashing!!

[Bevc]

I'm surprised Aileen.  I remember it being popular on the radio, especially when it was the Olympics there in 1992.  I love it and find it very uplifting

Andy's only played in Barcelona 3 times, these being 2005, 2006 and 2008.  He's never got beyond the R32, so nothing to lose here really.

[ak400]

Must admit I am a little surprised that Murray is playing Barcelona this week, with two mandatory masters still to come, and then the FO Wimbledon and the Olympics plu the fact he just played Monte Carlo, he is setting himself up for a punishing schedule, will it prove to much? We will see how it goes that is for sure.

[ak400]

Ah not so good then! Andy's never beaten Ferrer on clay but it would be interesting to see them play now. I think he'd have a better shot against him than Berdych's ultra-powerful game. Always like Andy-Ferrer matches anyway. Though I'm wondering whether Ferrer will actually play given that he was injured in MC - I think in his latest tweet he's saying that he's having treatment from his physios, though he is in Barcelona.

I think for Andy it's important for him to get match practice on this surface as he's less comfortable on it. Federer doesn't need lots of matches as he's very good on clay anyway. I think if Andy only played Madrid/Rome before the FO he's struggle.

I do see your point Katie, and I appreciate it takes him time to adapt to this surface but looking at his runs on Clay last year, he certainly seems to appear to have realistic chances to be going deep in the clay masters and the FO than before therefore it is a tricky one I do see what you are saying, but I also feel staying fresh for the summer is crucial! But he has a good team around him and I am sure Lendl will have a good idea of how to man that schedule!

[michelle]

Andy should have much better scheduling as he is the 2 seed, and I'm hoping Berdy is in Nadal's half and Ferrer in Andys. He will have more time to work on the parts of his game he and Ivan are working on.
Sure he will do well here.

[Aileen]

I'm surprised Aileen.  I remember it being popular on the radio, especially when it was the Olympics there in 1992.

Maybe because I never listen to the radio!

I do see your point Katie, and I appreciate it takes him time to adapt to this surface but looking at his runs on Clay last year, he certainly seems to appear to have realistic chances to be going deep in the clay masters and the FO than before therefore it is a tricky one I do see what you are saying, but I also feel staying fresh for the summer is crucial! But he has a good team around him and I am sure Lendl will have a good idea of how to man that schedule!

And I take your point - but Andy is very fit and, as you say, Lendl and his team will make sure he stays that way.  He'd have played Barcelona last year had it not been for injury.  Also thanks to early exit in IW, two w/os in Miami, and going out in the QF in MC, he really hasn't played all that much tennis since the AO.

In addition, Andy badly needs more ranking points.  He missed a big chance in IW where he had none to defend, but, as he has none to defend here, this is another opportunity for him.

Well chances are Djokovic might not play. Yeah he's kept on playing this week but can't see him missing his grandfathers funeral and I'd imagine that would be later next week sometime.

I didn't know Djokovic was playing.  Anyway his grandfather's funeral is being held today and Djokovic isn't attending for reasons stated here - http://bleacherreport.com/tb/bgf7V?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=tennis