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Sport · Withdrawal rules

Why Van Assche says withdrawing from Stockholm still means flying there

After his Paris Masters breakthrough, Luca Van Assche said he still had to fly to Stockholm to withdraw in person. The reported medical-check requirement is clearer than the penalty outcome.

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Why fly to a tennis tournament you have already withdrawn from? For Luca Van Assche, the answer was not another match but the withdrawal procedure itself: he said he needed to appear in Stockholm or risk a substantial fine. On November 8, the French player was waiting at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, his competitive season over but his travel apparently not.⁠1

That is the awkward postscript to his breakthrough run at the Rolex Paris Masters. A day after Ben Shelton ended his tournament in the semifinals, Van Assche told RMC’s Bartoli Time that pulling out of the following week’s Stockholm event had not spared him the journey to Sweden. He had made his decision too late, he said.⁠1⁠24

I have to go to Stockholm to withdraw on site. I withdrew late. I had to decide before Thursday, otherwise I get a big fine.

Luca Van Assche 1

His explanation, translated from French, describes the obligation he understood himself to face—not a penalty already imposed. The distinction matters throughout this story: there is evidence of a player preparing to travel to avoid a sanction, but no confirmation that he was fined, paid anything or completed the required check.⁠1

What the trip was meant to accomplish

According to RMC Sport’s account, the withdrawal procedure calls for notifying the ATP supervisor and undergoing an examination by Stockholm’s official tournament doctor. In practical terms, that is what the proposed journey was meant to accomplish: medical verification at a tournament Van Assche no longer intended to play. TennisTemple also reported that he needed to travel to Sweden to avoid an ATP financial sanction.⁠1⁠19

RMC described a possible fine of up to $10,000—approximately €9,000—for a player already entered in the main draw who did not attend the on-site examination. That is the outlet’s reported figure, not an independently established ceiling for Van Assche’s case. It is neither an automatic charge for withdrawing nor an amount he is known to owe. The euro figure is simply the report’s approximate conversion.⁠1

There are important limits to that explanation. His exact draw status when he withdrew has not been confirmed by an official withdrawal notice. Nor has the applicable ATP provision or any exception been established for his individual circumstances. His account explains why he believed he had to travel; it does not, by itself, settle the regulatory question.

The medical requirement also does not establish a new injury. The available reporting identifies no specific diagnosis behind this withdrawal. An examination to verify a withdrawal and evidence that a particular injury has been found are different things, and there is no basis here to turn one into the other.⁠1⁠21

The clearest answer to the opening question is therefore narrower than a universal rule: Van Assche said he needed to go, and RMC reported that the purpose was an on-site medical check after notifying the supervisor. Whether completing those steps would dispose of every potential penalty in his case remains unconfirmed.

A breakthrough week met another deadline

The timing makes his predicament easier to understand. The Thursday he identified was November 5, when he was still competing in the Paris round of 16. His run continued until Saturday, November 7, when Shelton beat him in the semifinals. The ATP lists Stockholm’s tournament dates as November 8–14, putting his airport explanation on its opening day.⁠1⁠24⁠20

Thursday should nevertheless remain attributed to Van Assche and RMC, rather than presented as an independently verified official cutoff. The exact withdrawal timestamp is also not established. A withdrawal reported on opening day is not, on its own, proof of which rule applied or that a violation occurred.

For the 22-year-old, this was an administrative interruption after a significant sporting advance. He entered the Paris week ranked No. 47 and reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal, becoming the 12th French player to reach the last four at the event. That ranking describes where he began the week, not a verified position after the tournament.⁠1

RMC placed the Paris result in a broader recovery: injuries and lost confidence had accompanied a fall to No. 238 during 2025; in July 2026, he won his first ATP title at Estoril. His next stated ranking target was No. 32, with a seeding at January’s Australian Open in view. Stockholm, however, was no longer another chance to compete. The withdrawal marked the end of his competitive season.⁠1⁠21

Co wiemy

  • Van Assche said he was waiting to fly to Stockholm to complete his withdrawal in person and avoid a substantial fine. 1

Czego nie wiemy

  • There is no confirmation that he arrived, underwent the examination, received a fine or obtained a waiver.

Co dalej

  • Confirmation of the completed medical check and any ATP penalty decision would establish how the episode ended.

The contrast is real without exaggerating it: Van Assche had stopped playing for the year, yet still believed he had to make an international trip to finish withdrawing. His airport remarks explain the intended journey. They do not establish its completion—or the financial outcome.

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  1. Yardbarker
  2. Tennis Majors
  3. TennisTemple
  4. Google News France (FR:fr)
  5. Australia
  6. HeyDay News

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Wersja z emisji
  1. Luca Van Assche withdrew from Stockholm, then waited at an airport for a flight there.
  2. The French player says missing the withdrawal deadline means he still needs to appear in Sweden or risk a substantial fine. His competitive season has ended, but the withdrawal process has left him preparing for another international trip. What does he need to do to avoid the threatened penalty?
  3. Van Assche was waiting at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on November eighth. He'd just finished his best run at the Paris Masters, and he said he needed to travel to Stockholm to complete his withdrawal in person.
  4. He'd originally entered Stockholm's ATP 250 event, then decided to pull out after his Paris run. He explained that he'd made that decision too late to avoid the extra procedure. Thursday was the cutoff he said he'd needed to meet.
  5. Van Assche said, “I have to go to Stockholm to withdraw on site. I withdrew late. I had to decide before Thursday, otherwise I get a big fine.” He was describing the requirement he understood himself to face.
  6. He was still playing in Paris when that Thursday cutoff arrived. He competed in the round of sixteen that day, and his run continued into the weekend. The decision about the following week's tournament overlapped with the biggest Masters event breakthrough of his career.
  7. Thursday was November fifth. Ben Shelton beat Van Assche in the Paris semifinal on November seventh. By November eighth, Stockholm's opening day, Van Assche was explaining why withdrawing still left him preparing to travel.
  8. The trip's purpose was medical verification by Stockholm's official tournament doctor. The withdrawal process also calls for notifying the ATP supervisor. That examination requirement doesn't tell us why Van Assche withdrew, and he hasn't identified a specific injury behind the decision.
  9. The possible fine is reportedly up to ten thousand dollars for a main-draw entrant who doesn't attend the on-site examination. That's about nine thousand euros. No fine against Van Assche has been confirmed.
  10. That possible amount depends on the main-draw condition. His precise draw status when he withdrew hasn't been confirmed. His account explains why he believed he needed to travel; it doesn't settle which ATP provision or exception applied to him.
  11. Stockholm's tournament runs from November eighth through the fourteenth. Van Assche had ended his competitive season rather than starting another tournament week. His airport remarks described an intended journey, so they don't confirm that he arrived in Sweden.
  12. At twenty-two, Van Assche had reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal. He became the twelfth French player to reach the last four at the Paris event. He entered that week ranked forty-seventh, after a season that had already brought his first ATP title.
  13. Van Assche fell to world number two hundred thirty-eight during a difficult twenty twenty-five, with injuries and lost confidence. In twenty twenty-six, he won his first ATP title at Estoril in July, then reached the Paris semifinals.
  14. His next ranking goal is number thirty-two, aiming for a seeding at January's Australian Open. But his final task after Paris was completing the Stockholm withdrawal process. Nobody has confirmed whether he completed the examination or received a fine.

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