Jabeur, Fritz and Evans replace Raducanu, Ruud and Thiem at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi

The Mubadala World Tennis Championship announced some lineup changes for their event in Abu Dhabi that is set to start on the 16th of December.

Emma Raducanu was forced to abandon plans to compete at the event after testing positive for COVID-19 recently. She will be replaced by Ons Jabeur who will fly to Abu Dhabi tonight and she will face Belinda Bencic instead of Raducanu at the event. Jabeur missed the conclusion of the season due to an elbow injury. She is back to full health and will make her return in Abu Dhabi.

Besides Raducanu several other players won't be making an appearance at the event as well. Casper Ruud is a player who also won't play at the event due to an undisclosed reason and he will be replaced by American Taylor Fritz who played in the Persian Gulf not long ago ahead of the Paris Masters. The American is familiar with the complex and he will take part in the event.

Dominic Thiem is another player that was supposed to play at the event after not playing for the majority of 2021 due to a wrist injury. However, after several practice sessions in Abu Dhabi Thiem elected not to play because he did not feel ready for it. He will be replaced by Dan Evans. The Austrian apologized with a statement on social media that reads:

"I was looking forward to making my return to competition at Abu Dhabi but I feel that I am not yet ready to compete at the highest level. It's disappointing not to take part this year but I need to continue my preparation for the upcoming season. I truly hope to return in the future."