The troubles just keep mounting for the ATP Mumbai Open.
After the withdrawals of Marat Safin and Marcos Baghdatis, persistent showers over that last few days have played havoc with the schedule. Now, Lleyton Hewitt, the lone star in the player field, is also unlikely to grace the tournament after pulling out of the crucial Davis Cup match against Serbia's Novak Djokovic in Belgrade on Sunday due to a viral infection.
ATP media manager Stephen Duckitt said the Australian is still scheduled to come to Mumbai either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
In a depleted player field, where world number 14 Richard Gasquet of France is the top seed, Hewitt was supposed to bring the much-needed star power and energy.
Former world number one Marat Safin, who is on an expedition to the Himalayas, had pulled out of the tournament due to a wrist injury and though injured Cyprus charmer Marcos Baghdatis made an obligatory appearance at the Cricket Club of India on Sunday, his participation was ruled out due to a wrist injury.
"I hurt myself in Beijing," informed Baghdatis, during the press conference in Mumbai.
With all the draw cards from last year, including defending champion Dmitry Tursunov of Russia opting for the Bangkok ATP over the Indian metropolis, the Mumbai Open is already struggling in its second year.
The presence of vastly-talented names like Gasquet, Germany's Nicolas Kiefer and veteran Fabrice Santoro is unlikely to generate excitement among the casual tennis followers.
It will now be up to the Indian players to make most of the opportunity and go deeper into the draw.
India's number one Rohan Bopanna has been drawn to play Frenchman Nicolas Devilder while the highly-rated Somdev Dev Varman will play young Fabio Fognini.
Varman might run into top seed Gasquet in the second round if he can survive the Italian test.
Davis Cupper Karan Rastogi, Rohan Gajjar, Navdeep Singh and Yuki Bhambri are still in contention in the qualifiers.
Navdeep was the most impressive of the lot on Sunday, when he won both his qualifying matches, upsetting the second seed Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 6-4, 6-4 in the second qualifying.
With Leander Paes also giving the tournament, being played literally in his backyard, Mahesh Bhupathi, his former doubles partner and the force behind the event, and Fabrice
Santoro will have to do the salvaging act in the doubles draw.
Indian pairs Rastogi and Mustafa Ghouse, and the US-based Dev Varman and Stephen
Amritraj have been given the doubles wildcards.
The rising appearance money in tennis, only a handful of stars commanding the status to fill up the stands and increasing injuries is threatening tournaments in smaller, non-traditional centres. Even the Mumbai Open found a place on the ATP calendar last year after Vietnam pulled out as hosts in the last week of September.
The billboards around the city proclaiming the tournament as 'The biggest sporting spectacle Asia has seen' couldn't have been more off the mark.
