Novak Djokovic withdraws from Abu Dhabi final, Andy Murray wins Mubadala title

Organisers announced that Novak Djokovic, citing illness, would not participate in Saturday night's final at Zayed Sports City against Andy Murray, who himself had been a fitness doubt.

Novak Djokovic defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2 on Friday night in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship semi-final. Francois Nel / Getty Images / January 2, 2015
Powered by automated translation

Organisers announced on Saturday afternoon that Novak Djokovic had withdrawn from Saturday evening's Mubadala World Tennis Championship final, leaving his scheduled opponent, Andy Murray, the winner of the seventh staging of the tournament.

Djokovic had handily defeated Stan Wawrinka in the semi-final on Friday night. On Saturday organisers cited an illness as Djokovic’s reason for withdrawing.

“Unfortunately I am not to be able to play in the final in Abu Dhabi tonight,” Djokovic said in a press release. “I’ve been sick today with a fever and I’m not fit to play.”

Murray himself had been a fitness doubt for the match. He was scheduled to undergo a scan on his left shoulder on Saturday afternoon after experiencing some pain on Friday night during his semi-final victory over Rafael Nadal.

“I’ll need to see how I am when I wake up in the morning,” Murray said of whether he would play. “We’ll need to wait and see, but I’ll have a scan to check to see if there is anything there.”

The third-fourth place match, between Nadal and Wawrinka, is still set to be played as scheduled. The press release said ticket holders to Saturday night’s match would be offered a 50 per cent discount on tickets to any day of next year’s tournament.

“Congratulations to Andy, it’s a shame I couldn’t play him today but I’m sure we will meet again soon,” said Djokovic.

“I’ve had another great weekend in Abu Dhabi ... and played some great tennis against the best players in the world.

“I love being a part of this tournament and I’m really disappointed not to be able to take my chance of winning the trophy here again.”

Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE