Daniil Medvedev withdrew from the second tournament in a row – Kommersant

World number three Daniil Medvedev has withdrawn from his win last year at the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open, an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) 250 tournament with a prize fund of $1.4 million, which will be held next week in Doha. This is the second consecutive refusal of the Russian to participate in the February competition, of which he is the current winner. Earlier, Medvedev decided to skip the 500 tournament in Rotterdam, which is taking place this week, citing insufficient readiness.

Let us recall that after reaching the final of the Australian Open, where Medvedev played 31 sets and more than 24 hours (24 hours 17 minutes) on the courts in seven matches, setting a Grand Slam tournament record, he did not rule out changes in his schedule. In terms of points scored this season, the Russian tennis player remains in second place, second only to Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, but in the main ATP rankings he will be forced to let the Italian go ahead. If Sinner can win this week in Rotterdam, he will become world number three for the first time next Monday. Otherwise, he will push Medvedev into fourth place on February 26. It is worth noting that, having won three titles in a row in February and early March last year – in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, the Russian earned 1250 points, and reaching the decisive stage of the first Grand Slam championship this season brought him 1300 points.

In addition to Medvedev, the former world ranking leader, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, withdrew from the tournament in Doha because he did not have time to fully heal a leg injury received in January at the tournament in Brisbane. He is expected to return at the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells.

Evgeniy Fedyakov