Tennis: Ferrer out of Heineken Open

David Ferrer returns the ball to Tomas Berdych during the Qatar Open final in Doha. REUTERS...
David Ferrer returns the ball to Tomas Berdych during the Qatar Open final in Doha. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous
Heineken Open organisers were left reaching for the positives following the withdrawal of top seed David Ferrer.

Ferrer, a four-time winner of the Auckland event, was victorious at the Qatar Open in Doha overnight, defeating Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 in the final but tweaked his back in the process.

The injury means that Ferrer joins defending champion John Isner (tiredness) and Gael Monfils (personal reasons) on the list of players who have pulled out of the Heineken Open, which starts tomorrow.

Given the Australian Open gets underway in Melbourne on Monday week, Spain's Ferrer didn't want to risk further damage to his back.

Heineken Open tournament director Karl Budge said this week's event would still have a solid field with Latvian Ernests Gulbis to take over as the new No 1 seed following the withdrawal of Ferrer.

"Injuries are unfortunately a nature of sport and while it's been a tough one for us this year, we've got four players sitting inside the world's top 20 still participating and that's equally the most we've ever had," Budge said.

Aside from world No 13 Gulbis, Roberto Bautista Agut (15), Kevin Anderson (16) and Tommy Robredo (17) are the other leading names ranked inside the world's top 20 who will play at the Heineken Open.

Fans in Auckland will also catch a glimpse of Ferrer who will be involved in promotional activities this week.

"One thing we can say about David Ferrer is I don't think we can ever question his loyalty or his passion or his drive for this tournament," Budge said.

"He's given us 10 years of impeccable service and he's come here and fought for every single ball of every match and I know David desperately wants to be playing these tournaments. He doesn't have a record of pulling out of events. He wouldn't be doing so if it wasn't absolutely necessary this time around."

The withdrawal of Ferrer has also caused a few changes to the draw with Robredo, who was previously the fifth seed, moving up to the top line of the draw as the fourth seed.

Robredo will get a bye first up and last year's beaten finalist Yen-Hsun Lu becomes the eighth seed where he will play Juan Monaco.

A lucky loser or qualifier will play New Zealand's Rubin Statham on Tuesday. The lucky loser is drawn from one of the four players who lose in the last round of qualifying.

- NZME. News Service.

Add a Comment