Statement from Dubai Tennis Championships: We regret to inform you that Barbora Krejcikova & Naomi Osaka have pulled out of this year’s tournament. We wish both players the best of luck for the rest of 2024 & look forward to seeing both players return to Dubai in the near future
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova and Naomi Osaka withdraw from next week's Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
WTAThursday, 15 February 2024 at 14:59
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is due to take place next week and ahead of Friday's draw, two top players have withdrawn from the tournament including the defending champion.
Barbora Krejcikova who had a magical run to the title last year defeating Iga Swiatek has withdrawn citing a back injury as the reason. As a result, she will similar to Jessica Pegula drop like a stone in the rankings as she cannot defend the 1,000 points she claimed for winning the title.
It also gives Swiatek a potential boost in keeping her World Number 1 as she has points to gain potentially in claiming the title. Krejcikova reached the Quarter-Final last week in Abu Dhabi, but lost out to Liudmila Samsonova.
She withdrew before the match with Anastasia Potapova in Doha this week. While Naomi Osaka's reasoning is likely due to still playing in Qatar and the short turnaround between tournaments.
Osaka has reached her first Quarter-Final since Miami in 2022 and will face Karolina Pliskova on Thursday afternoon. The former World No.1 also played Abu Dhabi albeit with a quick defeat the week before. Likely as a result, she will return at Indian Wells and Miami after this week concludes. She could rise up to World No.65 in event of winning the title so soon could not have the need for wildcards.
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