The Tuesday round up - ATP Tour, Nadal, Vaidišová and Robson

ATP Tour

Things are still in the very early stages at all three ATP Tour events this week. At the PBZ Zagreb Indoors Benjamin Becker had to endure a lengthy three set's battle on his way to round two. Playing Jesse Huta Galung the German eventually took it 67 63 76. Becker had to save 7 match points before taking it. Joining him in the last 16 will be Marin Cilic. Cilic beat world 370 Mate Delic in straight sets (64 64). During the match Cillic produced 14 aces (4 of which was in the final game) and had a winning serve of 82%.

Over in South America at the Royal Guard Open. 7^th seed Guillermo García-López had a first set scare in his match against Germany's Julian Reister. Trailing 36 the Spanish world number 56 managed to regain the edge in the match to take it 36 64 64. The only other first round win so far was Argentina's Leonardo Mayer who enjoyed a close two set 75 75 victory against Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer. Mayer will have a much harder task in the next round when he plays second seed Tommy Robredo.

Finally at the Open Sud de France. Only one first round match has been played but it didn't go too well for both Nicolas Mahut and the crowd. Facing fellow countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Mashut was force to retire while trailing 16 03 due to flu. Mahut could only manage to pick up 16 points on his first serve. Awaiting Mathieu in the next round will be defending champion Richard Gasquet.

Other stories

Rafael Nadal is a doubt for next weeks ATP Copa Claro as he continues to recover from his back problem. On Monday numerous media outlets reported that the world number 1 travelled to Barcelona for a medical check up regarding his back. According to El Mondo the results from the examination were good with no major damaged being caused. Commenting on the results Nadal said to elmundo.es:-
"I had a strong pull to the top of the game, a bit stretched ligaments and vertebrae have produced an edema, but has ruled out a crack has occurred to me,"
"At the moment I can not play, I need a few days off for the swelling go down."

Only time will tell if Nadal will make a return to his beloved clay surface.

Former world number 7 Nicole Vaidišová has announced that she is to make a comeback. Vaidišová retired at the extremely young age of 21 due to what her coach described as a lack of interest in the sport at the time. During her career she reached the Grand Slam semi finals twice (French Open 06 and Australian Open 07) and won 6 WTA tour titles. On her new twitter account she tweeted:-
”Thank you so much for your support. It really means a lot to me. I’m working so hard to try to be back.”

Former tennis player Annabel Croft has criticised Laura Robson by describing her coaching situation as “half baked”. In a interview with sportinglife.com regarding Robson's coaching arrangement. Croft said:-
"She's gone with this coach (Saviano) who's with Eugenie Bouchard but he's spending most of his time with her."Jesse Witten has come in as a 'travelling partner' but that isn't ideal.
"It seems half-baked to me. She needs to look to get that sorted out."
Robson's start to the year has been affected by a wrist injury and the British number one hasn't won back to back matches in a tournament since Guangzhou last September.