Former world number one and 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Friday with elbow pain to raise fresh doubts over his fitness. The 30-year-old Serbian star had targeted Abu Dhabi for his first match since his quarter-finals loss at Wimbledon in July this year.

Djokovic was scheduled to play Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut in the semi-finals of the exhibition tournament at 1900 local time. But four hours before that, Djokovic released a statement on his website announcing his intention. It is not clear still if he will play the Qatar Open where he is top seed next week.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017