Not very good news this morning for tennis fans around the world: Roger Federer has informed officials at the Kooyong Classic that he is withdrawing due to a severe stomach virus. The Kooyong Classic is a exhibition tournament that is a warm-up to the Australian Open. Previous entrants to the Kooyong Classic have fared very well at the first Grand Slam of the year, most notably, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer.

Federer is hoping to add to his 12 Grand Slam resume and overtake Pete Sampras’ record 14 Slam titles.

Arriving early for practice to defend his Aussie Open Championship:
Fed Aus08 practing

From Yahoo! Sports:
Roger Federer has a severe stomach virus and has pulled out of an exhibition tournament less than a week away from the Australian Open.

Federer told officials at the Kooyong Classic on Monday that he became ill after arriving in Australia last Friday from his training base in Dubai.

“It continued to get worse over the weekend,” the top-ranked Federer said. “After trying to practice on Saturday afternoon, I went to see the doctors and they immediately performed a series of tests. The doctors have advised me that I should take a couple of days off and recuperate so that I am able to be 100 percent for the start of the Australian Open.”

Federer, aiming for his third straight Australian Open title, hopes to resume training by Wednesday or Thursday. The eight-man Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament begins Wednesday.

Tournament officials also said that Germany’s Tommy Haas has withdrawn. He had recent shoulder surgery for a chronic injury, and it has not recovered in time. Haas said he still hopes to be ready for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 14.

Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko has been picked as one replacement player at Kooyong, with another to be named later.

Others in the Kooyong field are Andy Roddick, Fernando Gonzalez, Andy Murray, David Nalbandian, Ivan Ljubicic and Marat Safin.


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