Auger-Aliassime forced to withdraw from exhibition event due to injury
Spain's Feliciano Lopez to replace Canadian star at Ultimate Tennis Showdown
Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime has pulled out of the upcoming Ultimate Tennis Showdown after twisting an ankle during training on Tuesday.
The UTS announced Auger-Aliassime's withdrawal Wednesday on its Twitter feed.
"It's nothing major to be honest. Bad luck that it happened yesterday during training," Bernard Duchesneau, Auger-Aliassime's agent, said.
"It's nothing serious at all. It's just too close from the beginning of the competition to take any risk."
Duchesneau is hopeful Auger-Aliassime can resume training in a couple of weeks.
Auger-Aliassime will be replaced by Spain's Feliciano Lopez at the event.
The UTS is set to start Saturday in Nice, France, at the tennis academy of Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach of Serena Williams.
Auger-Aliassime was scheduled to open against 20-year-old Australian Alexei Popyrin.
The independent UTS is being pitched as a return to competitive tennis after the ATP and WTA professional tours were suspended in March because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Auger-Aliassime was ranked 20th on the ATP Tour when competition was halted.
The next ATP Tour event still on the schedule is the Citi Open in Washington, starting Aug. 2.
