Madison Keys out of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with injury as Karolina Muchova suffers Qatar blow
WTA
It is bad news in the coming weeks for fans of Madison Keys and Karolina Muchova who have withdrawn from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and Qatar Open respectively with the former taking place in two weeks time.
Keys captured her first Grand Slam title last month in Melbourne and has not played since that run. Her withdrawal as a result moves Lulu Sun into the main draw. The 29-year-old rose to World No.7 following her Grand Slam win and holds a 14-1 record this year.
This features two titles. The tournament starts on February 16 but she is already out. She also won't return in February with ATX Open Austin also seeing her withdraw due to new WTA rules which stop top more than one top 10 player being involved in a WTA 250.
In other news, Muchova has also had to withdraw from Doha. Both her and compatriot Marie Bouzkova are out of the tournament which begins on Monday. The former was seen with heavy strapping on her thigh during her win over Anastasia Potapova.
She was then well beaten by Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semi-final of Linz last week. Such a shame for a player who has shown since her return in the middle of last season that she is still a force to be reckoned with.
But it seems like despite losing to Alexandrova, she was in fact injured and will hope to be ready for Dubai but if not won't return until the Indian Wells and Miami double similar to Keys.
Aryna Sabalenka who is top seed in Doha will play though. She has not been involved in the tournament for some years and often skips it post Australian Open but unlike Keys who has gone for a similar play to her in terms of skipping the event usually, she will be involved.
🇵🇱 Karolina Muchova wycofała się z turnieju WTA 1000 w Dosze.
— Z kortu - informacje tenisowe | Tennis news (@z_kortu) February 6, 2025
🇬🇧 Karolina Muchova has withdrawn from WTA 1000 in Doha.
🔗 Link: https://t.co/XZEgoNCP2O
📸 Jimmie48 Photography | WTA | #QatarTotalEnergiesOpen | #czasnatenis pic.twitter.com/gahIewEzTC
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mandoist04-02-2025 - It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
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