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Posted at 3:34 a.m., Monday, January 7, 2008

Tennis: Federer withdraws from event due to illness

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer has a severe stomach virus and has pulled out of an exhibition tournament less than a week away from the Australian Open.

Federer told officials at the Kooyong Classic today that he became ill after arriving in Australia last Friday from his training base in Dubai.

"It continued to get worse over the weekend," the top-ranked Federer said. "After trying to practice on Saturday afternoon, I went to see the doctors and they immediately performed a series of tests. The doctors have advised me that I should take a couple of days off and recuperate so that I am able to be 100 percent for the start of the Australian Open."

Federer, aiming for his third straight Australian Open title, hopes to resume training by Wednesday or Thursday. The eight-man Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament begins Wednesday.

Tournament officials also said that Germany's Tommy Haas has withdrawn. He had recent shoulder surgery for a chronic injury, and it has not recovered in time. Haas said he still hopes to be ready for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 14.

Russia's Nikolay Davydenko has been picked as one replacement player at Kooyong, with another to be named later.

Others in the Kooyong field are Andy Roddick, Fernando Gonzalez, Andy Murray, David Nalbandian, Ivan Ljubicic and Marat Safin.