The bad luck keeps coming for Auckland Open organisers, with fifth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain the latest to pull out.
After already having David Ferrer, John Isner and Gael Monfils withdraw, the tournament could ill afford another big name pulling out.
But the veteran Spaniard, who was set to play New Zealand wildcard Michael Venus in the second round on Wednesday, hurt an adductor muscle in training two days ago and said it would be too risky to play ahead of the Australian Open which starts on Monday.
“I have been one and a half days without practising and trying to recover to play here, but I’m not ready to play a match,” said world No.17 Robredo.