Saksa pulls out from Riyadh Masters due to mental health concerns

 Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, the standout support player for Tundra Esports, will miss the remainder of the Riyadh Masters 2023 due to health difficulties.

The Dota 2 community was caught off guard when Tundra Esports delivered a truth bomb in the middle of the first Group Stage of Riyadh Masters 2023. Tundra Esports announced that their support player Martin “Saksa” Sazdov will miss the remaining matches of the Riyadh Masters, forcing the team to use their coach Aui 2000 as a substitute.

Saksa also published a moving post on Twitter, explaining that he had to withdraw from the competition because of issues with his health, including anxiety, insomnia, and other issues. On the other hand, the loss of support for Tundra Esports puts them at a high risk of exiting the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters early, reducing their chances of surviving the group stage.

Riyadh Masters Update 📢

Due to illness @saksadota will be flying home tomorrow and not continuing in the Riyadh Masters. We wish him a speedy recovery! ❤️ 💪 @aui_2000 will be standing in until further notice.#TundraTribe #RiyadhMasters pic.twitter.com/PdwggV7B8f

— TUNDRA (@TundraEsports) July 22, 2023

Tundra Esports is currently competing in Group B of the Riyadh Masters 2023, where they are currently sitting in the last place with a 2-6 record. In order to have a reasonable chance of making the playoffs, Tundra must win at least one of their remaining matches in Riyadh The team faces an additional challenge without their star support player Saksa, particularly in light of upcoming matches against top-tier squads like Shopify Rebellion, Team Liquid, TSM, and Team Secret.

Saksa’s fourth early withdrawal this season

While the news is disheartening, it wasn’t a shock to many because Tundra Esports had missed the 28-year-old support player before and changed their team at the last minute. Saksa had his first early departure from a tournament in DreamLeague Season 19 back in April. Although Saksha returned from his absence for the ESL One Berlin Major 2023 in May, he was once again forced to miss the DreamLeague Season 20 owing to medical complications.

Saksa was also forced to travel home due to illness earlier this month, forcing AUI 2000 to replace him in the lineup for the Bali Major 2023. Even without Saksa, the defending TI winner’s squad finished in the Top 3 at the Berlin Major. In contrast to most of the top professional sports leagues throughout the world, DPC offers a significantly shorter offseason, which caused several players to miss out on important competitions due to burnout.

Earlier this year, Samuel “Boxi” Svahn of Team Liquid was forced to leave the Lima Major, and Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi of Nigma Galaxy opted to completely skip the 2023 DPC season because of persistent health issues. Tommy “Taiga” Le of OG and Héctor “K1” Rodrguez of noun both missed some time in the regional league for the Summer Tour in May due to anxiety and other health issue.

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