Injury forces Anderson to withdraw from French Open
LOS ANGELES: Twotime Grand Slam runnerup Kevin Anderson is skipping the claycourt season because of a lingering right elbow injury.
Anderson announced yesterday via a post on Twitter that he is withdrawing from the French Open, as well as tuneup tournaments in Estoril, Madrid and Rome.
The 2.03m South African, who is ranked No 6, has been dealing with elbow issues for much of the year. He has played in only 10 matches in 2019, citing the elbow when pulling out of tournaments in New York, Delray Beach, Indian Wells and Acapulco.
‘‘After discussing with my doctors and team, we thought the best decision is to rest and rehab my elbow injury for a few more weeks,’’ Anderson said.
‘‘I will keep working hard each day to get healthy again in time for grass.’’
Anderson’s most recent appearance came at the Miami Open last month, when he made it to the fourth round before losing to Roger Federer.
The bigserving Anderson’s greatest successes have come on faster surfaces. He reached the final at Wimbledon on grass last year before losing to Novak Djokovic and was the runnerup to Rafael Nadal on the hard courts of the US Open in 2017.
Anderson’s best showing on the slower clay of Roland Garros, where play begins on May 26, has been making it to the fourth round. He lost at that stage four times, including each of the past two years.
Turin’s Pala Alpitour stadium will host the ATP Finals in 202125, replacing London, the governing body of men’s tennis said yesterday.
Turin was picked ahead of Manchester, Singapore, Tokyo and London, which were among the five shortlisted venues after more than 40 cities worldwide had expressed an interest to host the seasonending tournament. — AP/Reuters