World number four Lleyton Hewitt [Images] has withdrawn from the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai due to the impending birth of his first child.
His wife, actress Bec Cartwright, is expecting the child within the next two weeks.
"With my baby due in the next two weeks, it is not possible for me to come," Hewitt said in a statement on Tennis Australia's Web site.
"I am extremely disappointed as I have always enjoyed playing the Tennis Masters Cup."
Hewitt, who won the event in Sydney four years ago and in Shanghai a year later, has been replaced in the eight-man draw by world number nine Gaston Gaudio.
Argentine Gaudio joins Roger Federer [Images], Rafael Nadal [Images], Andy Roddick [Images], Andre Agassi [Images], Guillermo Coria, Nikolay Davydenko, and Ivan Ljubicic in the tournament, though Roddick is battling back and shoulder injuries and could also withdraw.
The tournament begins on Sunday.
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