Wawrinka and Raonic pull out of Mubadala Tennis
abu dhabi — Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic have withdrawn from the 10th Edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) and will be replaced by South African Kevin Anderson and Russian Andrey Rublev respectively. Wawrinka and Raonic confirmed that they are not yet ready to compete following their respective time away from the game.
“Unfortunately I won’t be able to play in Abu Dhabi this year as I’m not ready yet to compete at this level,” Wawrinka said in a statement relased by the tournament organisers on Wednesday.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to play in Abu Dhabi this year as I’m not ready yet to compete at this level Stan Wawrinka
“Together with my team, I’m working hard and we will do everything to be ready in time for the Australian Open. I’m sad that I won’t be able to play in front of the great fans at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship but I need to be patient and give my body the time it needs. I wish everyone a great event and hope to be back in Abu Dhabi in 2018,” he added.
Replacing Wawrinka will be recent US Open finalist Kevin Anderson who will be in action on day one taking on world number 10 Pablo Carreño Busta in a repeat of their recent US Open semi-final, with the winner playing defending champion Rafael Nadal on day two for a place in the final. Raonic will be replaced by Russian Andrey Rublev who will play world number five Dominic Thiem with the winner playing Novak Djokovic in the semi-final on day two of the Championship.