There has been a late change to the line-up for the Mubadala Tennis Championships after Frances Tiafoe withdrew from the tournament.
Tiafoe, who reached the semi-finals of the US Open, has pulled out due to an injury, according to organizers. There has been no information provided about the nature of the injury issue or its severity. Tiafoe was recently featured in a video where he played tennis and basketball with Chris Matthews. A renowned NBA shooting coach who goes by the name ‘Lethal Shooter’ on social media. That video was published on Tuesday but it is unknown when it was filmed.
Replacing the world No.19 in the event will be Croatia’s Borna Coric who will be making his debut. Coric, who is currently ranked 26th in the world, won the biggest title of his career so far in August at the Cincinnati Masters. At that tournament, he defeated Cameron Norrie and Stefanos Tsitsipas who are also playing in the Mubadala Tennis Championships this year.
“I’m excited to be making my Mubadala World Tennis Championship debut in Abu Dhabi. I know there are a lot of Croatian sports fans in the region so it will be great to play in front of them. Playing in the Championship, with such a strong line-up, is the perfect start to my 2023 season,” Coric said in a statement.
According to the official schedule, Coric will start his campaign against defending champion Andrey Rublev who defeated Andy Murray in last year’s final.
Held at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Centre, the three-day exhibition event has been an annual fixture in the off-season since 2009. The only exception was in 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous champions include Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Murray. Since 2017 there has also been one women’s match that takes place.
This year’s Mubadala Tennis Championships will take place between December 16-18.
List of participants
MEN
Carlos Alcaraz ESP
Cameron Norrie GBR
Stefanos Tsitsipas GRE
Casper Ruud NOR
Andrey Rublev RUS
Borna Coric CRO
WOMEN
Ons Jabeur TUN
Emma Raducanu GBR
