Federer withdraws from ATP Cup due to family reasons
Wednesday 30 October 2019 15:07, UK
Roger Federer has dropped out of the ATP Cup in January, meaning there will be no showdown with Andy Murray.
The 38-year-old had committed to playing the inaugural tournament in Australia at the start of 2020, but has opted out in order to spend more time with his family.
The team competition sees 24 countries compete against each other and Federer's Switzerland side were scheduled to start their campaign against Murray's Great Britain in Sydney on January 3.
"It is with great regret that I am withdrawing from the inaugural ATP Cup event," said Federer.
"It pains me to not be a part of the most exciting new event on the calendar. But this is the right thing to do if I want to continue to play for a longer period of time on the ATP Tour."
As a result Switzerland drop out of the tournament as they only qualified on Federer's ranking.
Federer also pulled out of the Paris Masters this week, but is still scheduled to play the year-ending ATP Tour Finals in London next month.
Federer won the Swiss Open last week to claim his 103rd ATP title, but will end 2019 with no major titles in the calendar year, despite having two championship points against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
As a result of his withdrawal, Switzerland drop out of the tournament as they only qualified due to Federer's ranking.
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