mBjorn Borg has been forced to withdraw from next weekâs BlackRock Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall in London because of an elbow injury.
The Swede sustained the injury in Frankfurt earlier in the month, and pulled out of the event in Sao Paulo the following week. He gave himself as much time as possible to try to get ready for the BlackRock Masters Tennis, which takes place between the 4th and 9th of December, but was forced to admit defeat in his battle to be fit.
âI am really sorry that I wonât be able to play in London, but I injured my elbow earlier in the month and also had to pull out of the Sao Paulo event last week,â said Borg.
âI did everything I could to be ready to play at the BlackRock Masters Tennis as I was so looking forward to playing. The event is in London, one of my favourite cities and where I won Wimbledon so many times. All the players want to play at the Royal Albert Hall as it's such an incredible place to play tennis and it would have been a special feeling to be there, so I am really, really disappointed. I definitely want to come back to play the tournament next year as the British people are great and it is a fantastic event.â
Borgâs wild card will now go to former Top Ten player Wayne Ferreira. The South African played more than 800 singles matches in a career that spanned 16 years. He holds the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam appearances, having played in 56 Grand Slam tournaments in a row between 1991 and 2004. He was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist, won the title at the Queenâs Club in London in 1992, and holds a winning record against current World No.1 Roger Federer.
He joins John McEnroe, Goran Ivanisevic, Pat Cash, Henri Leconte, Michael Stich, Sergi Bruguera, Guy Forget, Cedric Pioline, Paul Haarhuis, Anders Jarryd and Jeremy Bates in the BlackRock Masters Tennis field.
The players will launch the BlackRock Masters Tennis at a press conference at 11.30am on Monday in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall.
