Tennis: Jaziri cleared by ATP for pulling out to avoid Sela

Jaziri, who’s ranked No. 71 in the world, retired from his match against Denis Istomin in suspicious circumstances last Wednesday after winning the first set 6-3.

By ALLON SINAI
Tunisian tennis player Malek Jaziri (photo credit: REUTERS)
Tunisian tennis player Malek Jaziri
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The ATP announced on Tuesday that Tunisian tennis player Malek Jaziri did not pull out of his first round match in Montpelier, France, last week in order to avoid a meeting with Israeli Dudi Sela.
Jaziri, who’s ranked No. 71 in the world, retired from his match against Denis Istomin in suspicious circumstances last Wednesday after winning the first set 6-3.
In 2013, Jaziri withdrew from the Tashkent Challenger tournament before his match against Israel’s Amir Weintraub.
Tunisia was ultimately suspended from the 2014 Davis Cup competition after it was found that the country’s tennis federation had ordered Jaziri to pull out.
Jaziri also withdrew from the doubles tournament in Montpelier where he was due to team up with Marc Lopez and face Israeli Yoni Erlich and partner Frantisek Cermak in the quarterfinals.
The ATP said last week that even though Jaziri’s elbow injury was verified by an ATP physiotherapist on-site, it decided to investigate the matter “given a previous incident involving the player’s national federation in 2013.”
However, the ATP said on Tuesday that “following further discussions with Malek Jaziri, as well as consultations with tournament physiotherapists and doctors working on-site at last week’s ATP World Tour event in Montpellier, the ATP is fully satisfied as to the legitimacy of the player’s reasons for retiring from his match due to an elbow injury. Accordingly, this matter is considered closed.”
Sela, ranked No. 92 in the world, was in action in the Memphis Open late Tuesday night when he played American Steve Johnson (42) in the first round.
Meanwhile, Shahar Pe’er is still searching for her first WTA Tour main draw win in 2015 after being knocked out in the first round of the Pattaya Open in Thailand on Tuesday.
Pe’er, ranked No. 114 in the world, lost 7-6 (5), 6-1 to Zhu Lin (127) of China, who was only told shortly before the match that she would be playing after Yaroslava Shvedova retired.


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