Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula withdraw from 2026 Qatar Open

The entry list for the 2026 Qatar Open in Doha has been further weakened by the withdrawals of Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula.

As usual, the Qatar Open will begin just a week after the Australian Open ended. Many believe that holding a mandatory WTA 1000 tournament so soon after a Grand Slam is harmful to players and leads to increased injuries and burnout.

Naomi Osaka withdrew from the Middle Eastern event a few days ago. An abdominal injury resurfaced during her 2026 Australian Open run, forcing the Japanese star to withdraw before the third round.

Osaka hopes to be recovered in time for the 2026 Dubai Championships, which begin immediately after the Doha tournament ends, but that cannot be guaranteed at this stage of her recovery.

Although some withdrawals are inevitable, organizers might be somewhat concerned about a few more top players withdrawing from the entry list. Keys and Pegula are two top players who bring a lot to events they enter.

Keys and Pegula played each other in the 2026 Australian Open fourth round, with Pegula winning in straight sets. That ended Keys's Australian Open title defense, 12 months after winning her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

Pegula ultimately fell in the semifinal to eventual champion Elena Rybakina. The 31-year-old saved several match points in the deciding set before losing a close tiebreak to confirm her exit from the season's opening Grand Slam.

Neither Keys nor Pegula has any confirmed injury problems. That does not rule out the possibility of them having knocks that have not been publicly disclosed, but the women's desire for some time off after the Australian Open is the most likely explanation.

Keys rarely plays during the Middle Eastern swing. She made only one previous appearance in Doha and two in total. The most recent of these came at the 2023 Dubai Championships, where she reached the quarterfinals.

Iva Jovic, an 18-year-old who has had a great start to 2026, also withdrew without a confirmed reason. The teenager reached the Australian Open quarterfinal, a run that included a win against Jasmine Paolini.

Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, Jennifer Brady, and Desirae Krawczyk founded The Player's Box Podcast in August. Despite being just a few months old, it has swiftly become very popular among fans.

It gained wider traction when Keys and Pegula played at the 2026 Australian Open. That led to a bet between the friends. If Pegula had lost, she would have won the jersey of the NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, who are rivals of the Buffalo Bills, which her family owns.

The 2024 US Open runner-up avoided that fate by winning their fourth-round contest in Melbourne. That meant Keys had to eat apple pie with cheddar cheese on top, a meal traditionally eaten by Pegula on Thanksgiving that Keys thinks is disgusting.

There have been several humorous moments on the Player's Box, such as Pegula recounting how a cleaning lady in China walked in on her when she was showering, and the language barrier made it challenging to get rid of her.