Frenchman Benoit Peerwithdrew from the tournament in Estoril, which starts on Monday. Since early February, Peer has not played for just one week (not counting the second weeks of the Australian Open and the Masters in Miami).
Before last year's rating freeze for six months, he was the 22nd racket in the world, this week he is 35th.
After restarting the season in August, Peer played 18 matches, of which he won only two. Of the 16 defeats, three are failures during the meeting.
The place of Peer in the main draw was taken by Fernando Verdasco.