World number one Roger Federer will not play in Dubai next week as he aims to spend some quality time with his family before defending his titles in Indian Wells and Miami in March.
Roger Federer has had an amazing start to the season having won his 2oth grand slam title in Melbourne after beating Marin Cilic in a thrilling final and then he captured the world number one spot after winning the title in Rotterdam.
Now the oldest number one in history has decided to skip Dubai in order to spend some quality time with his family. The announcement was made by the tournament director Salah Tahlak earlier today, “I have been in touch with his agent and the last time we spoke he informed me that Federer would rather spend some quality time at home with his wife and kids than make the trip to Dubai,” said Tahlak.
“He also said that this decision from the world No. 1 has nothing to do with Dubai, but it’s simply because he doesn’t want to take any chances during the build-up to his defence of the two titles in Indian Wells and Miami. In fact he has conveyed his willingness to come and play in Dubai next year.”
Federer will need his well earned rest if he want to successfully defend the ‘Sunshine Double’ titles, which starts in early March. Despite Federer’s absence, Dubai still has a top quality field with Grigor Dimitrov set to be the top seed. The tournament starts on the 26th of February.
