Top draw Raonic pulls out of Malaysian Open

PETALING JAYA: World No.6 Milos Raonic has pulled out of this week’s Malaysian Open.

The 23-year-old Canadian was having probably the best season of his career having made the semi-final at Wimbledon, the quarter-finals of the French Open and the fourth round of the US Open this year. 

Tournament Director Nick Freyer received a message from Raonic on Thursday citing fitness as his reasons for pulling out of the ATP 250 tournament which is set to take place at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil this Sept 20-28. 

The message to Freyer contained the following “Dear Nick, I am sorry I will not be able to participate at this year’s KL event. I was really looking forward to playing and visiting KL. Unfortunately I am not 100% fit to play the event and I was advised to recover for another week. I wish you all the best to a successful event and I look forward to playing the event in the future. Regards, Milos”

Freyer said that it was a disappointing turn of events but put it down to the realities of organizing a sporting event.

“These are the realities of modern professional sport, and like the athletes on court, sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t,” said Freyer. 

“We are all disappointed, as Milos is having the season of his career, and so many fans and members of the tournament team were looking forward to enjoying his tennis, and giving him a very warm Malaysian welcome,” he added.

“We of course wish Milos well and he is only going to get better, and hope that he comes and visits us down the road. The show must go on and we hope that the excitement continues to build regardless, and that with Kei Nishikori, Ernests Gulbis, Nick Kyrgios, our defending singles and doubles Champions and more, we still have a wonderfully terrific tournament.”