Bye Bye Spanish Warrior Albert Costa in Barcelona and Casachallenger

It's disappointing this year that Barcelona has suffered a huge amount of withdrawals that isn't good for one of the best non-clay events on the calendar, some of the withdrawals are interesting
such as
- Nalbandian going back for a rally race
- Gaudio deciding to go back to Argentina and forgo playing in the city where he won his first tournament.
- Ljubicic injured a toe.
- Acasuso probably needs to get some more herbal infusion.
- Hanescu is probably still suffering from injury and the mental scarring of losing to LaLo on clay in Monte Carlo.

But there are still some good players on offer, plus the Bye is around as well and that ensures extra people in the club and it's meant to be a wonderful venue from all reports.

This will be last ever went for Albert Costa and I will be sad to see him go, but time moves on and he had a very good time in the game and he won his RG crown that his talent deserved and I hope he can beat the ATP rapper Vinny Ice and it's good that he finishes in the city that he lives in and he can spend more time at home with his kids and watching his beloved Barcelona football team. One of my other faves is very close to retirement big Felix Mantilla, seems only a matter of time.

Onto the tournament now. Calleri is making his comeback and plays Justin Gimelclown in the 1st round and that is what I call a dream draw, just hope he can get through this season without any more injury problems, as this is where he can establish some form, but with Calleri one can never tell.

Berdych is another one who has a tough draw against Montañes, well tough if he isn't ready to play, though to me he has the potential to end the Nadal streak on clay and he does have a very good game for him and they know each other very well, but this is a bit of speculation on my behalf.

Along with Berdych, Nieminen and Andreev are looking for some improvement on their Monte Carlo performances and this is a good tournament for them to do so, though to be fair Igor did get Safin and Ljubo as 1st round opponents previously, but that's the beauty of clay. A players weaknesses can be exploited in such a way that is difficult on other surfaces, if they aren't moving well and their serve is coming back and can't rely on brainless ball bashing.

Casachallenger is at its best again and anything could happen at this tournament and as much as I like Lucho Horna, he being the number 2 seed at an ATP event does have a certain Mickey Mouse credentials. It's meant to be a nice place and there have been some good winners of the event in the past.

Seppi and Lucho can do well here and Massu is the top seed, but I'd like to see the big Behrend do well here. Maybe it's cause he is a cheaper version of Acasuso, except slower and has a great grunt that can be heard from a long distance. Too bad he is not in Barcelona and not playing Ferrero.

Juan Monaco needs a big performance here and there is a chance for Marach as well to make a second round again and hope he can crack the top 100. He is a very good guy, though a bit of a nut on court and does get a bit pissed off with himself.

Let the fun begin.