The nightmare season for Kevin Anderson continues. The South African, who is the world number 15 on the ATP World Tour, has withdrawn from Indian Wells, citing a shoulder injury. He’s not the only person to have withdrawn their name from the BNP Paribas Open. Pablo Andujar, has also withdrawn from the event with an undisclosed injury. Mikhail Kukushkin and Rajeev Ram will be the two players to replace Andujar and Anderson.
Dreadful Start to 2016 for Anderson
The South African is having a nightmarish start to the new calendar year after a brilliant 2015 put him at a career-high ranking in the top ten and saw him match or witness his career-best showings in three of the four Grand Slams.
He started off his 2016 at the ASB Classic in Auckland, after withdrawing from the Aircel Chennai Open the week before. He won his opening match against Robin Haase in Auckland, but that was his only win in 2016. He lost his following match to eventual runner-up Jack Sock.
Anderson’s two other losses have also come at the hands of Americans. The world number 15 retired to Rajeev Ram at the Australian Open, after going down two sets to one and 0-3 in the third. His third loss of the year came to Austin Krajicek in Delray Beach, also retiring. This retirement came after he lost in the first set tiebreak.
Andujar’s Year Isn’t Too Stellar Either
Just like Anderson, the Spaniard has only picked up one win on the season as well. Similarly, it came in his first tournament as well, picking up a win over Paolo Lorenzi in Qatar ExxonMobil Open. After that however, the world number 71 has lost six straight matches. Andujar’s last loss came at the hands of Gastao Elias of Portugal after he retired when he dropped the second set to the Portuguese.
