Federer withdraws from tournament
"It's just too much," he said after losing a three-set final at the Swiss Indoors in his home town of Basle to Juan Martin del Potro. "I was trying to make up my mind and I had some niggles I didn't want to take a chance on. I feel very disappointed as I had one of the best weeks of my life there last year, but this is just a last-minute decision."
With the draw for the BNP Paribas Masters having already been made, the seeds cannot be reallocated. Victor Hanescu will take Federer's place as a lucky loser (the highest-ranked loser of the last round of qualifiers) and also benefit from Novak Djokovic's first-round bye. The Romanian will thus face the winner of Monday night's main match between Gilles Simon and Marcos Baghdatis.
Federer's decision also means that Novak Djokovic is guaranteed to take over the No.1 spot in the rankings and hold it until the end of the year.