Geneva - Roger Federer has withdrawn from next week's Barclays Championships as well as the March 6-8 Davis Cup tie against the US with a lingering back injury.

"I'm disappointed to announce that I am withdrawing from both Dubai and the Davis Cup tie in the United States," the world number two said on his website.

"This was a hard decision to make as I am missing not only one of my favorite events on tour in Dubai but I am also missing out on an opportunity to help my country try and move on to the next round of Davis Cup."

Melbourne, Feb. 2 : Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal refuses to believe he has Roger Federer''s number just yet, despite continuing his grand slam dominance over the so-called greatest player ever.

Nadal''s gripping 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2 Australian Open final triumph on Sunday night not only denied Federer a record-equalling 14th career major - but also took the
22-year-old''s own tally to six.

The Spaniard has taken just 20 tournaments to accrue his half-dozen, with only Bjorn Borg - who needed 18 events - stacking up his first six slams in quicker fashion.

Melbourne  - Roger Federer certainly revels in the spotlight. But the world number two would like to see women start shouldering more of the late-night scheduling load at the Australian Open.

The Swiss played his fair allotment of night-time thrillers at this edition. But after following a long woman's match, a men's contest can end at 2 am in a worst case scenario - well past a civilised hour.

The president of the ATP Player Council believed equal prize money (1.3 million dollars for each champion) should mean equal responsibility.

Melbourne, Jan. 31 : Australian tennis coach Tony Roche is of the view that Swiss great Roger Federer is on a mission to reclaim the prized No. 1 ranking, as well as his 14th Grand Slam title.

Roche, who steered a chastened Ivan Lendl back to the top when the Czech-born American won his first Australian Open in 1989, has also coached Federer for three years, and is looking forward to Sunday to see whether history can be repeated 20 years later at the same venue.

Melbourne, Jan. 30: Swiss tennis great Roger Federer swept to the brink of grand slam immortality by outclassing American Andy Roddick on Thursday night in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Federer, 27, is within three winning sets of landing his 14th major and his fourth Melbourne Park crown after whipping Roddick 6-2 7-5
7-5.

Melbourne  - Jelena Dokic and Roger Federer provided a power punch for Australian Open ratings this week, with those contests watched by only a slightly smaller number of viewers than the 2008 men's final.

The Seven network scored a hit with the programming one-two, which attracted 2.31 million viewers across the five major metropolitan markets

When Novak Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the men's final a year ago, the audience was a slightly higher 2.34 million.