Roger Federer opts to withdraw from Rogers Cup 2012 – Tennis News
World number one, Roger Federer, has followed the footsteps of the Spanish superstar, Rafael Nadal, and withdrew from the upcoming Rogers Cup tournament that is scheduled to be contested in Toronto.
Federer announced his withdrawal from the tournament while conducting a press conference at the end of a four-hour marathon against the ninth ranked Argentine superstar, Juan Martin Del Potro.
The Swiss Maestro lost the opening set but managed to keep the match alive by winning the second set tie-breaker and finally overpowered the hard-hitting Argentine 19-17 in the final set to end a gruelling semi-final clash at Olympics.
Swiss legend will play his first ever final at Olympics on the eve of Sunday against the fourth ranked Briton, Andy Murray, on his favourite grass court surface at Centre Court of Wimbledon.
Federer is expected to win the gold medal and complete his Career Gold Slam; otherwise he might not get another shot because he is already 30 years of age and might retire before the next edition of Olympics kick off in 2016 at Brazil.
Only two players from the Top five athletes in the Association of Tennis Professionals will be seen in action at Rogers Cup that follows Olympics tournament. Nadal has opted to rest further because he is still having a sore knee that kept him out of action
at Wimbledon for Olympics.
Moreover, his compatriot, the fifth ranked David Ferrer, is also not participating in the tournament for some undisclosed personal reasons. Another big name that announced his withdrawal from the tournament is the former world number one, Andy Roddick.
Talking about the second ranked Serb, Novak Djokovic, and the Wimbledon finalist, Andy Murray, the tournament director Karl Hale commented, “I’m confident both players will be here next week. I’ll take them at their word.”
He further added, “With the Olympics, we knew that could be an issue. That’s why we added the byes for the nine-to-16 players and moved the men’s final to Sunday night. We did what we could, but it is a tough schedule for the players.”
The hype of the tournament will definitely deplete with all these big guns missing out for one reason or another.
Tags: