June 17, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
The seventh-ranked player in the world David Ferrer says he is unsure if he will be able to compete at Wimbledon next week after withdrawing from the grass-court Topshelf Open on Monday.
The Spaniard cited stomach problems as the reason for his withdrawal from the event, which is used by many players to get used to playing on grass prior to the start of Wimbledon.
''I'm not sure if I can play at Wimbledon,'' said Ferrer. ''I'm going to talk with my doctor in Valencia tomorrow and see. It's been 10 days now and that's just too long for this problem.''
The 32-year old indicated that he came down with the flu following the French Open a couple of weeks ago, and is symptoms have not improved since. He fell to fellow countryman Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Ferrer was the top seed at the Topshelf Open in Netherlands, and his exit now opens the field up. Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco won his first-round match over Paul Henri-Mathieu of France 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Colombian Alejandro Falla reached the final of the Gerry Weber Open last week before falling to Roger Federer, but lost his first-round bout to eighth-seeded Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 3-6.
