THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Roger Federer pulled out of Switzerland's Davis Cup series against the United States next month and a tournament in Dubai next week because of a back problem that has bothered him since last year.
The 13-time Grand Slam singles champion had announced in October he would play for his country against the U.S. team led by Andy Roddick in Birmingham, Ala., on March 6-8. It would have been the first time since 2004 that Federer played in first-round Davis Cup matches.
"As a precautionary measure, I will use the next few weeks to make sure the back injury is fully rehabilitated and I am ready for the rest of the 2009 season," Federer said in a statement posted on his website Tuesday.
He has not played a competitive match since Feb. 1, when he lost to top-ranked Rafael Nadal in five sets in the Australian Open final. A victory over Nadal in that match would have allowed Federer to tie Pete Sampras' career record of 14 majors.
A right leg injury could force Nadal to miss the Feb. 23-28 Dubai tournament, too, but he said Monday he hopes to play for Spain in the Davis Cup.
"This was a hard decision to make as I am missing not only one of my favourite events on tour in Dubai, but I am also missing out on an opportunity to help my country try and move on to the next round of Davis Cup," Federer said.
Tickets for all three days of the Switzerland-U.S. contest at the 16,000-seat Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena sold out in less than an hour last month.
"I'm kind of disappointed, to be honest. Obviously, it changes the complexion of the match, in that it makes us a pretty significant favourite," U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe said in a telephone interview.
"He's a big part of the reason we sold out. I'm kind of disappointed for tennis," McEnroe said.
Without the No. 2-ranked Federer, Switzerland probably will rely heavily on No. 18 Stanislas Wawrinka against the United States. Wawrinka teamed with Federer to win the gold medal in doubles at the Beijing Olympics.
The U.S. team is expected to include No. 6 Roddick, No. 13 Blake and the doubles pairing of twins Bob and Mike Bryan.
No comments:
Post a Comment