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World number one Dinara Safina was forced to withdraw in the opening match against Jelena Jankovic at the WTA Championships on Wednesday. She had to retire in the first set due to back injury.
Dinara Safina's dream of becoming the first Russian to end the year as world number one was left in tatters. The 23-year-old, who arrived in Doha ahead of 11-times grand slam champion Serena Williams in the rankings, was forced to quit in tears in the opening round.
Safina, sister of former men's number one Marat said,"It's my low back, I have inflammation there in the bone. I’ve been playing on in pain, on anti-inflammatories, on everything. It's been about three months.”
"But as I was chasing this number one I was fighting with my body. God knows, maybe I should have stopped after the U.S. Open.
"I was still hoping, but then my body just gave up. And here, I did everything possible to play. I went yesterday to put injections, cortisone, but I could not handle this pain."
