Melzer to skip 2 tourneys because of ailing back

VIENNA - Jurgen Melzer has pulled out of the Swiss Indoors in Basel and Paris Masters because of a back injury, ending his singles season and raising doubts if he can play doubles at next month's season-ending ATP Finals in London. Melzer's manager, Ronnie Leitgeb, told the Austria Press Agency on Monday that it's "a very difficult decision to probably end the season here, but it's his only chance to recover 100 percent." Leitgeb said Melzer would probably not recover in time for the Nov. 20-27 London event. Melzer was ranked a career-high eighth in April but has dropped to 26th. He lost to South Africa's Kevin Anderson on Thursday in the quarterfinals in Vienna, a tournament he had won the past two years.