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Nope, he doesn’t have a bad back or injured knee. However, world number six Andy Roddick announced that he won’t be participating in next week’s Dubai Tournament wherein he’s the defending champion. This announcement means that Roddick has just become the fifth top-ten player to skip the ATP event, joining Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco.
Roddick reasoned that he does not agree with the decision by the United Arab Emirates to deny Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa to play in this week’s WTA tournament.
“I really didn’t agree with what went on over there. I don’t know if it’s the best thing to mix politics and sports, and that was probably a big part of it,” Roddick said at the ongoing Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis.
“It’s just disappointing that reflects on a tournament that probably didn’t have much to do with the decision. Nevertheless, I just don’t feel like there’s a need for that in a sporting event. I don’t think you make political statements through sports,” he added.
Despite losing important ranking points for pulling out of the Dubai tournament, Roddick said that a long break is just what he needs to prepare for the Davis Cup tie against Switzerland next month.
