Korolev: "The Rules Were Known Before the Tournament"

Korolev has finally spoken and given a time line. Everyone knew what Del Potro's retiring would mean.

Apparently an emergency meeting of the Player's Council was held in Dubai. The player's voice was Roger Federer.

This translation was posted on menstennisforums.com

Russian speakers have vouched for it's accuracy after reading the original Russian language interview.

It's in Russian originally but here are some quotes from Korolev interview to "Sport-Express":

"The rules were known before tournament' start. Yes, they are complicated and far from optimal, I believe. I knew if del Potro retired I would advance to the quarters... I was following the match via internet and when Blake had led 6-1 1-0 I was off to the club to receive prize money and papers for next tournament. And all of sudden I met del Potro who said, "You are through". "How? What happenned", I asked. He said, "I have breathe problems".

"Then I came up to James and said, "Sorry but that's it". He replied, "They are still discussing". "Discussing what?" "Who's gonna advance." "But according to the rules it's me, isn't it? If I am wrong then I accept it cos it's really not fair towards you".

"Later I've been told Blake got angry after the match and went to supervisor to appeal the rules. Of course he was leading and should win eventually but rules are the rules. Also I've been told ATP chairman changed them by one phone call and decided James would play.

"I was unhappy with that decision, of course. And I was supported by Safin, Hewitt and Johansson. I wanna thank Marat especially. He came to me and said, "Come with me. We need to solve all this". He very softly told them everything he thought of this situation. He asked them how could they do that and who gave them a right to change the rules mid-tournament?
"I also got in touch with my agents and they helped me too. One of them woke me up at 5 a.m. and said, "You will play". At 6 a.m. Mark Derby called me and said de Villiers changed his mind in my favor. The next one who called me was de Villiers himself. He apologized and said he did what he thought would be the best thing.

"They had meeting in Dubai with Federer and other guys taking part in it. All of them said it was me who should play by the rules. They contacted de Villiers and came to conclusion nobody was allowed to change the rules in the middle of tournament.

"I haven't met Blake since Thursday when we both still thought he came through. I told him I couldn't be satisfied obviously but wished him luck for the rest of tournament.

"I don't want to discuss whether Blake was right or not. The fact that James talked to the officials and probably phoned to ATP was kind of natural decision. He stated the rules had a hole. What else could he do? Anyway, I hope we got each other right."

http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?135413