ABU DHABI, January 1, 2016

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been forced to make a withdrawal from the eighth Mubadala World Tennis Championship taking place this weekend, December 31st – January 2nd at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. After playing the first match of the tournament against world number seven David Ferrer, Tsonga confirmed his withdrawal due to a right forearm injury.

World number 17 Feliciano Lopez, a crowd favourite in Abu Dhabi, who made his first appearance at the annual Championship last year, replaces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and will compete in the fifth and sixth place play-off against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson on day two of the tournament. Lopez arrives in Abu Dhabi off the back of a season that saw him reach the quarter finals of the US Open for the first time in his career, where he eventually succumbed to the power of world number 1 Novak Djokovic. His appearance at Flushing Meadows marked his 55th consecutive outing in a Grand Slam main draw and he enters 2016 with an impressive 33 wins over top 10 players.

Feliciano López reached 6th place at his Abu Dhabi debut

Following Lopez versus Anderson, the New Year celebrations will continue with a Spanish showdown between an in-form David Ferrer and 14-time Grand Slam winner, Rafael Nadal. New Year’s Day at Zayed Sports City will come to a close with the third match of the day when Milos Raonic takes on reigning French Open champ, Stan Wawrinka.