"I don’t want to try anymore; I don’t want to risk my health just to play another tournament. I don’t want to have surgery again. I’ve had it. Why should I do it? I’ll be 35 in a week and I’m not Lance Armstrong," the Romanian tennis player said.
Pavel said the health problem that caused him to pull out of the Australian Open has been bothering him for eight years.
"I’ve had this problem for about eight years. I took some tests in October last yea and my back was ok. That’s why I wanted to carry on for another season, play in Grand Slam tournaments and end my activity after the tournament in Bucharest. But things don’t always go as planned. The pain is still there. I felt really bad today and couldn’t continue,” Pavel said.