Madrid: Roger Federer has pulled out of the Madrid Masters this week as his wife Mirka is due to give birth to the couple’s third child.
“I’ve decided to withdraw from Madrid to be with my wife Mirka during these next few exciting weeks for our family,” he said on his official Facebook page.
“I apologise to my fans and hope to be back in Madrid next year. I’ll be training near my home, and am excited to rejoin the Tour soon!”
The 17-time Grand Slam champion’s withdrawal comes just two days after world No. 2 Novak Djokovic also pulled out of the tournament in the Spanish capital due to a wrist injury.
On court, world No. 2 Li Na secured her place in the third round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over compatriot Zheng Jie.
Zheng led the head-to-head record between the two 4-3 before the match, but Li has now won the last four meetings between the pair in straight sets and will face 16th seed Sloane Stephens or Petra Cetkovska in the last 16.
Meanwhile, former world No. 1 and Olympic silver medallist Dinara Safina announced on Tuesday that she is to retire, Russia’s tennis federation press service reported.
The report said that the 12-time WTA title winner will participate in the award ceremony of the WTA Madrid Open tournament, where she won one of her titles in 2009. Safina’s farewell ceremony will also take place in Madrid.
“Of course I decided to quit much earlier,” the press service quoted Safina as saying. “I decided to withdraw from any official announcements until now as I was still hoping to overcome my back injury. But this moment has finally come.
“I played the last professional tournament of my career here in Madrid and that’s why I think it’s the best place for me to quit the game.”
The sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, the 28-year-old hasn’t played in three years due to an ongoing back injury.
