Former semi-finalist Lucas Pouille withdraws from Australian Open

Former world no. 10 Lucas Pouille will not compete at the upcoming first Major of the season in Melbourne, opting to stay in Europe and play the Quimper Challenger.

The winner of five ATP titles and a former Australian Open semi-finalist is currently ranked 70th thanks to his points from 2019, playing only one Challenger match in 2020 and undergoing right elbow surgery in July. Lucas is back on the practice court but he has decided to skip the best-of-five encounters at the Australian Open and make a comeback at the less demanding Challenger event at home in France in the last week of January.

Pouille had kicked off the 2018 season from inside the top-10, playing on a high level in February but losing ground in the rest of the season, suffering almost 20 losses and staying away from deep runs. Out of nowhere, the Frenchman advanced into the last four at the Australian Open 2019, prevailing over Borna Coric and Milos Raonic to set Novak Djokovic clash.

Lucas won only five games against the mighty Serb and he was never close to that form in the rest of the year, reaching only one more semi-final but still doing enough to finish just outside the top-20. After he skipped almost the entire 2020, Lucas will make a fresh start in 2021, training at the All In Tennis Academy ahead of the first matches in four weeks.

Pouille hasn't played at Majors since the US Open 2019, losing to Daniel Evans in the second round.