Czech tennis player Petra Kvitová has pulled out of next week’s Doha championships due to ongoing problems with an Achilles tendon.
“I want to get everything together so that I can then train without disturbance to play better in other tournaments,” she told the Czech news server iDNES.cz.
Kvitová, who reached the semifinals of the season opening Australian Open and last week grabbed two points in the Czech team’s Fed Cup win against Germany, has had a nagging Achilles problem since Christmas. “At the start I thought it was an inflammation, but it will just not get better,” she added.
‘I want to get everything together so that I can then train without disturbance to play better in other tournaments.’
The left-hander is currently staying in the Czech Republic for medical check-ups and physiotherapy.
Kvitová, the 21-year-old winner of Wimbledon and the season closing Masters’ tournament, did not take part in this week’s GDF Suez Paris Open, which she won last year. As a result she could cede her number two WTA world ranking to Russian Maria Sharapova, who has already booked her place in the quarterfinals of the indoor championships.
The next big tournament on the WTA calendar starts on February 20 in Dubai with Kvitová, reportedly, still hoping to take part.