Novak Djokovic withdraws from Australian Open warm-up in Doha with injury

Updated 30/12/2017 at 09:51 GMT

Novak Djokovic has further delayed his competitive comeback by pulling out of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open tournament in Doha.

Novak Djokovic en 2017

Image credit: Getty Images

The delay follows the former World No.1’s withdrawal from an exhibition match against Robert Bautista Agut in Abu Dhabi on Friday, following advice from his medical team regarding an ongoing elbow injury.

In a statement on his website, Djokovic announced:

Unfortunately, the situation with the elbow has not changed for better since yesterday. I still feel the pain. Therefore, I will have to withdraw from ATP tournament in Doha.

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I am sorry that I will not be able to play in front of my fans here. I have great memories of this tournament and the matches I played, like the final against Andy [Murray] from last year.

The tournament is considered a warm-up for January’s Australian Open, casting further doubt over whether he will be fit to compete in the first Grand Slam of 2018, which kicks off on January 16.

Last year’s victor of the Qatar Open, Djokovic has been troubled by his elbow injury since dropping out of Wimbledon at the quarter-final stage this year.

The Qatar Open starts on January 2.

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