Injured Roddick forced to withdraw from tournament

Big-hitting Swede Robin Soderling will make his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after an injured Andy Roddick announced his withdrawal Tuesday. Soderling, who this year became the first man to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, had been the first alternate for the world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament, which begins Sunday, 22 November, at The O2 in London.

With Soderling’s elevation, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga becomes the tournament’s first-alternate.

Soderling, who will be the first Swede to play at the season finale since Thomas Johansson in 2002, this year finished in Top 10 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for first time, highlighted by reaching his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros and capturing his first ATP World Tour title on clay, on home soil in Bastad. He won nine matches in his first 10 tournaments through mid-May but then turned things around by compiling a 35-9 match record over the remainder of the season, which included runs to the Roland Garros final, Wimbledon fourth round and the US Open quarter-finals (losing to Roger Federer each time).

Roddick, who had qualified for the season finale for the seventh consecutive year, injured his left knee at the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 on October 13 and has not played since. He resumed light practice this week but said that he would not be fully fit for the tournament.

“I am really disappointed to miss the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals,” Roddick said. “I love playing in London and I’ve heard so many good things about the venue.  However, I have not fully recovered from my knee injury and I won’t be able to compete.  One of my goals in 2010 will be to qualify for this event again.”

This year’s star-studded London line-up will feature Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco and Soderling. The doubles field comprises Nestor/Zimonjic, Bryan/Bryan, Bhupathi/Knowles, Dlouhy/Paes, Kubot/Marach, Mirnyi/Ram, Cermak/Mertinak and Fyrstenberg/Matkowski.

The draw for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will be made Wednesday. Each of the top eight players and doubles teams will be drawn to play a minimum of three round-robin matches to determine which four players and teams advance to the knockout semi-finals. 

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will determine which players finish the year-end No. 1s in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings and the 2009 ATP Doubles Teams Race. Roger Federer is the front-runner to finish ATP World Tour Champion, but reigning champion Rafael Nadal can overhaul the Swiss. The 2008 year-end doubles No. 1s Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic have a strong grip on the ATP World Tour Doubles Champions title, but Bob and Mike Bryan remain within striking distance.

More than 250,000 tickets have been sold and only a limited number of tickets remain. The O2 is set to be a fantastic host for the eight-day singles and doubles tournament. Tickets are available online through Ticketmaster or by calling 0844 847 2495 within the UK. Overseas customers should call +44 161 372 0025. For more information please visit www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.