Roger Federer and Serena Williams have withdrawn their participation from the IPTL this year. Both players have cited financial volatility as their primary reason for skipping the event.

The American’s decision was announced by Singapore-based Straits Times, late Monday evening after the teams reached Singapore, where the next leg of the tournament is to be held from 6 to 8 December. Williams was expected to lead the Slammers’ title defence bid at home and was also expected to play the final leg, in India.

Speaking to the Times, tournament founder Mahesh Bhupathi stated, “We were trying to get it done and we’ve had some challenges financially. Serena has been supportive and she really wanted to come and play some matches before Australia, but we couldn’t get all ducks lined up.”

On behalf of Federer, who was to represent the Indian Aces at home, in Hyderabad, his agent Tony Godsick conveyed the news about the Swiss opting to not playing in the tournament. The New York Times senior sports correspondent and tennis columnist Christopher Clarey noted that Godsick had told him that his client, Federer will be missing the event this year.

As a personal note, Bhupathi, in his statement to the media, went on to say, “We have had challenges this year, and we were hoping to get past them. With the current economic climate in India and the uncertainty of spending money, I reached out to both Roger and Serena to explain the situation. They have been both been very supportive of the IPTL the first two seasons and we look forward to bring them in future years.”

Federer is the second high-profile player of the Aces to not play the event. A couple of days previously, Eugenie Bouchard had also withdrawn from the competition.