By James Waterson                                                             Photo Credit: Mark Howard

(August 5, 2011) Andy Roddick, America’s No. 2, has withdrawn from next week’s Rogers Cup in Montreal because of an oblique muscle injury.

It’s a worrying sign for Roddick, who also withdrew from this week’s Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington D.C.

The good news for the American is he did not play last year’s Rogers Cup, so he isn’t defending any points this week. Yet he is defending 360 points he got after he advanced to the semifinal in Cincinnati last year.

He recently entered the Winston-Salem Open, which occurs the week before the U.S. Open. If he plays in the event, it will be the first time in his career he will play the week before the Grand Slam tournament.

The Montreal Gazette reported that World No. 5 Robin Soderling, Jurgen Melzer, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Xavier Malisse will miss the tournament as well.

Soderling withdrew because of a wrist injury, while Melzer is out because of an injury to his quad. Garcia-Lopez will miss the tournament because of appendicitis and Malisse withdrew because of personal reasons.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray will play in the event. Murray is going for his third Rogers Cup championship in a row, which would make him the first man to accomplish this since Ivan Lendl from 1987 until 1989.