Injured Roger Federer withdrew from the Madrid Masters yesterday due to a niggling back problem, with the Swiss now hoping to be ready for next week in Rome.
The 34-year-old, who underwent knee surgery in early February, was to have made a start at the Spanish event ahead of the French Open beginning on May 22. Federer said that he tweaked his back during Saturday’s practice—a minor injury with which he is familiar—and was unable to train on Sunday or yesterday.
“I’m very disappointed, to say the least. I was hoping to play. I changed my schedule around and practised well in Switzerland before coming here,” Federer said. “This is not really what I wanted to do, come here and do a press conference about pulling out. It’s been a tough year, so I hope it gets better from here.”
The problem will motivate the 17-time Grand Slam winner to travel to Rome for the final major tune-up event prior to Roland Garros. He hopes to be fit in a few days and arrive at the Foro Italico as soon as possible in order to resume training.
Federer’s clay programme this spring has comprised only three Monte Carlo matches, with a quarter-final loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ending his run in the principality as he returned for the first time after surgery.
The Swiss called his familiar physical problem “a normal back thing that I’ve had in the past”.
“I guess it’s good because I know how to handle it. I know how long it can take. Sometimes it can vary by a few days here or there. That’s why I’m pulling out today and not waiting until tomorrow. So it’s the back stuff I kind of know and I’m okay with it. At least I know what it is,” the Swiss maestro said.
Federer said it was better to withdraw before playing so as not to inconvenience the event even more. “To me (a late pull-out) hurts much more than pulling out before the tournament even started. I’m frustrated. I’m a little sad of course not to be playing here. At the same time, I’m still upbeat that the back issue is going to go away.
“I would rather have it being the back than the knee. So from that standpoint I see it as more positive than negative, to be honest. In a nutshell it’s not good that I’m not playing here. I still have time. The season is long. There are a lot of big highlights coming this season.”
On court in the men’s first round at the ATP-WTA tournament, Canadian 11th seed Milos Raonic advanced over Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 while number 16 Gilles Simon beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Three women’s seeds exited the second round, with Australian Daria Gavrilova beating number 12 Elina Svitolina 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) and American Christina McHale dispatching Czech 13th seed Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Romanian Patricia Tig accounted for Sloane Stephens, seeded 16th, 6-2, 6-3.
Top seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber had crashed out of in the first round on Sunday in major setbacks ahead of Roland Garros.
Poland’s Radwanska, the number one seed in the absence of Serena Williams, lost 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 to the rejuvenated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
Radwanska, a semi-finalist in 2012 and 2014 in the Spanish capital, already knew the dangers posed by Cibulkova after her opponent came within a point of victory in their last meeting at Indian Wells in March.
Cibulkova, a former world number 10 and Australian Open runner-up, was always going to be a dangerous floater having won her fifth career title last time out in Katowice three weeks ago.
Losses for Radwanska and Kerber mean Garbine Muguruza is the highest seed left at the key clay-court event and the fourth-ranked Spaniard sealed her place in round two with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Anna Schmiedlova.
“Of course I was a little bit nervous and tense because the first matches are always complicated,” said Muguruza, who is aiming to be the first Spanish woman to win the title in Madrid. “In Madrid we have this extra pressure because I’m here at home. Perhaps you’re a little bit more nervous because of that, but my first feeling is that I’m satisfied for winning the match.”
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka stretched her winning streak to 15 matches after winning in Indian Wells and Miami as she overcame some stiff first set resistence from Britain’s Laura Robson to win 6-4, 6-2.
Azarenka could meet defending champion and fifth seed Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals as the Czech had no trouble in disposing of Lara Arrubarrena 6-3, 6-2. US Open finalist Roberta Vinci, the seventh seed, is out after losing in straight sets to Montenegrin Danka Kovinic 6-4, 6-2.
German Laura Siegemund continued her great start to the clay season after reaching the Stuttgart final as a qualifier as she dumped out ninth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro came from a set down to beat Hungary’s Timea Babos 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Ana Ivanovic also had to go the distance to see off Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 while 2014 French Open runner-up Simona Halep, the sixth-seeded Romanian, swept past Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-0, 6-3. There was also a notable win for Swiss 10th seed Timea Bacsinszky who saw off Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 despite only arriving in Spain at midnight having won the Rabat title on Saturday.
Also shrugging off jet-lag was Czech 11th seed Lucie Safarova, the champion in Prague on Saturday, who beat Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur, beaten by Safarova in the Czech final 24 hours earlier, was also a winner, seeing off home player Sara Sorribes 6-1, 6-3.

Dimitrov suffers racket-smashing meltdown in Istanbul title clash

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov smashed three rackets on his way to losing the Istanbul Open final to Argentine Diego Schwartzman on Sunday.
Second seed Dimitrov was one set ahead and 5-2 up in the second before Schwartzman, the world number 87, fought back to win the his first ATP title 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-0.
“I let myself down, I let my team down, I let my family down with that behaviour,” Dimitrov told reporters. “I started cramping at 5-2 in the second set. It was very unfortunate that I couldn’t close out the match. I have to give credit to Diego.”
Dimitrov, the world number 29, lost 11 of the last 12 games of the clay-court match, smashing up two rackets along the way. The world number 29, trailing 5-0 in the third set, then broke up another racket when level at 40-40 in the sixth game of the set, resulting in a match-ending penalty.

Federer remains optimistic over Roland Garros chances
Roger Federer is keeping things positive as he looked ahead to the French Open start in three weeks after a forced withdrawal from the Madrid Masters due to niggling back pain. “The goal has always been that I’m at 100 per cent when the French comes around,” the 17-time Grand Slam champion said. “If not, then (at the) latest, Wimbledon.”
The Swiss said that his back problem was something he has dealt with before and has nothing to do with his early February knee operation which kept him off court for two months.
“This is not the knee, it’s the back, so it’s different. Clearly it’s not a help. Nevertheless, I’ve been able to practice as much as I’ve wanted to. I came back on tour quicker than I thought I would (in Monte Carlo last month), so in terms of schedule, I guess I still am still somewhat on par,” he explained.
Federer will now devote his immediate energy in trying to heal and then prepare for the Rome Masters from next Monday, the last major tune-up chance prior to the May 22 start of the Grand Slam in Paris.
“Only time will tell if I’ll be fine at the French. I do believe I have chances there. The problem in the past has been more Rafa (Nadal) than the clay itself.
“Clay is the surface where I did grow up, it’s a surface I feel comfortable on. I’ve spent maybe most time of my life on that surface.
“I probably enter the French Open a few less expectations. I’m not the overwhelming favorite in those events, and sometimes that can be helpful, but I still put pressure on myself wanting to go far and deep and play well.
“It’s the same thing this year. Maybe something can happen at the French. If not, there is still a huge summer ahead.
“Let’s see how my back is going to be and my preparation. If I can’t play Rome it’s not the end of the world. The goal clearly now is to play there and do well, like I did last year (in reaching the final).”