Doha, Qatar – Roger Federer will not play in Friday's opening Qatar Open due to a back injury.
Doha serves as a tune-up for the first Grand Slam event of the year, the Australian Open, which will commence January 16 in Melbourne.
Federer said he expects to be ready for the Aussie.
"For Australia, I'm optimistic, just because it's not very good but it isn't crazy bad," Federer said. "I have had bad backs in the past. This is definitely not very good; otherwise I would be playing. But I feel without play and the right treatment, I will get through it in the next few days."
This marks only the second time that the 30-year-old Federer has withdrawn during an event because of injury.
"I don't feel a whole lot of improvement for today, and I just don't think it's the right time to risk anything more right now," Federer said. "I still have pain, and that's why it was the only right decision, a difficult one for me...so it's a sad moment for me and for the tournament and for the fans, but health goes first."
The second-seeded Federer was scheduled to meet third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday, but Tsonga, instead, received a walkover into Saturday's final at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
Federer is riding a 20-match winning streak, which included three straight titles to close out the 2011 season. He beat the former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga in the final at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London and also topped the Frenchman in the semis here in Doha last season.
The 16-time major champion Federer is a three-time Doha titlist, including a victory over Russian Nikolay Davydenko in last year's finale.
The 26-year-old Tsonga will appear in his 13th career ATP World Tour final, seeking an eighth championship. He went 2-4 in his 2011 title tilts.
Friday's lone semifinal now will pit top-seeded Rafael Nadal against fourth- seeded Gael Monfils. Nadal is the reigning French Open champion, was last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open runner-up, and was a Doha finalist two years ago. Monfils was the Doha runner-up back in 2006.
Nadal and Monfils will meet for a 10th time, with Nadal comfortably leading the lifetime series, 8-1. The acrobatic Frenchman, however, was a quarterfinal victor here in Doha two years ago.
The winner of this $1.24 million tournament will claim $175,380.
