Originally Posted by *Sparkle*:
“It was only mandatory for him to play one, but there are four slots in the ranking system for 250s/500s and Murray has played just three in the last twelve months, so technically he's under. Davis Cup and the Olympics don't count for anything - if they had, he might have used the points from one of those.
Don't forget, Murray took time out at the beginning of the year when his daughter was born, while most of his rivals were playing one or two of the smaller events. Murray just came back for the Davis Cup, knackering himself ahead of Indian Wells - for no points. He also had both Beijing and Vienna in his calendar since before anyone thought he had a realistic chance of #1 this year, so it wasn't a last minute tactical decision either.
There are some who thought that it was dangerous to play all of those tournaments, and I suspect if Murray had a tougher time of it in China, he may have withdrawn from Vienna, but we've seen before how tired he often gets by Paris and WTF, and this run could still make him vulnerable to upsets.”
At this point in the season I do get a bit nervy about people playing too much. But i'm used to Rafa being totally burnt out by this stage, Andy seems to cope better. I just have to remind myself that Andy knows his own body, perhaps if he wasn't so close to number 1 he would have skipped Vienna but he knows what he is doing.
I've seen odd mumblings about 'vultering' in these tournaments, which is daft since he hasn't really gone beyond the ATP requirements. He just happens to be winning them too.