World number six Andy Roddick has pulled out of the season-ending Masters Cup with an ankle injury.
The 26-year-old American, a three-time title winner this season, suffered the injury during practice yesterday following his defeat by British number one Andy Murray on Monday.
World number 27 Radek Stepanek will step in to take the former US Open champion's place in the red group at the eight-man tournament and face two-time defending champion Roger Federer on Wednesday.
‘When I was doing a warm-up drill in practice I just went over on it, and we tried as much as we could to get it better,’ said Roddick.
‘I can't really stop and start very quickly, when I go over on the outside it hurts. And so I do that a lot on my serve also, so it's definitely a tough prospect trying to beat Roger with no serve and not being able to move much.’
After finishing in the world's top ten for the seventh consecutive season, Roddick does not expect the injury to affect his preparations for next year with the Australian Open beginning in Melbourne on 19 January.
‘They don't think it's too long term, which is nice,’ he added.
‘It's unfortunate for this event as far as I go, but I don't think we're looking at anything more than a week or so. Which in the grand scheme of things is good news considering the nature of the injury.’
