Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov has pulled out of the 2019 ATP Indian Wells Masters because of a shoulder injury.
Seeded 26th in the tournament, Dimitrov had a first round bye but he was forced to call it a day even before hitting one ball because of his fitness concern.
Dimitrov joins Juan Martin del Potro as the second main withdrawal from the ATP Indian Wells Masters, with the Bulgarian player finishing a sequence of seven successive appearances at the tournament.
His record at the Indian Wells Masters had never been exemplary, with a third round entry being his best since he began playing.
The last time he featured in this tournament was in 2018 where he was sent packing by Fernando Verdasco, who incidentally had earlier withdrawn from the Indian Wells Masters as well. Dimitrov had been the third seed in the tournament last year but his rankings have fallen drastically since.
Incidentally, Dimitrov had earlier missed out on the Rotterdam Open and ATP Acapulco Open as well because of injury issues and this puts in doubt his appearance at the next Masters tournament that will be played in about two weeks from now. The Miami Masters starts on March 20.
Dimitrov’s best career performance came at the 2017 ATP World Tour Finals, a title he won by defeating David Goffin in the final. He also has a Masters 1000 title win, which also came in the same year, when he clinched the 2017 Cincinnati Masters by over-powering Nick Kyrgios in the title-decider.
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