Djokovic pulls out of comeback tourney

Former world number one and 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Friday, raising fresh doubts over his fitness.

The 30-year-old Serbian star had targeted Abu Dhabi for his first match since his quarterfinals loss at Wimbledon in July this year.

Djokovic was scheduled to play Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinals of the exhibition tournament here.

But four hours before that, Djokovic released a statement on his website announcing his intention. It is not clear still if he will play the Qatar Open where he is top seed next week.

"I am terribly disappointed that I am forced to withdraw from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship," Djokovic said in the statement.

"Unfortunately, in the past few days I started to feel pain in the elbow and after several tests, my medical team has advised me not to risk anything, to withdraw from the tournament and to immediately continue with the therapies."

He added: "Now I need to accept this situation, and to wait for the results of the therapies, in order to start playing tennis again and getting back to full rhythm. This might affect the start of the season and the tournament plan, but the decision will be made in the following days."

Meanwhile, British number one Andy Murray will take his place and will face Bautista Agut in the exhibition tie.