Richard was 3-6 down against Mikhael Youzhny when he retired in the first round of Dubai.
There were no images of this match. Looking at the statistics raised some doubts already. Was Richard really not able to return the Russian's serve? Hence, the retirement did not come as a surprise. There was some confusion about the reason for it. Some sources reported an ankle problem, others referred to fever. The offical reason given by the ATP was finally illness/flu.
Richard's next scheduled tournament is Indian Wells.
