{"id":210546,"date":"2025-10-19T07:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T07:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/210546\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T07:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T07:48:11","slug":"novak-djokovic-issues-apology-after-retiring-during-his-match-against-taylor-fritz-at-the-six-kings-slam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/210546\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic issues apology after retiring during his match against Taylor Fritz at the Six Kings Slam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic fell short of a winning end to his Six Kings Slam tournament after retiring against Taylor Fritz.<\/p>\n

Fritz<\/a> took the first set against Djokovic<\/a> in their third place playoff at the Six Kings Slam<\/a>, battling hard to a 7-6(7-4) win.<\/p>\n

But the Serbian decided enough was enough at that stage of the match, retiring against the American immediately after losing the first set.<\/p>\n

The veteran received a bye into the semifinals of the Six Kings Slam, where Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner<\/a>, the defending champion.<\/p>\n

Fritz meanwhile defeated Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals before losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the semis.<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by Clive Brunskill\/Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic issues apology after retiring vs Taylor Fritz at the Six Kings Slam<\/p>\n

The American then ended his week on a high with a hard-fought victory over Djokovic, albeit in somewhat fortuitous circumstances given his opponent\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Asked on court after the match how he was doing, the 38-year-old replied: \u201cNot great. I want to apologize to everybody. Sorry guys. Sorry you couldn\u2019t see the second set.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut credit to Taylor. We had some incredible games towards the end of that set, and it was one of the longest sets I ever played, to be honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo anyway, it was an amazing visit to Riyadh for me once again, I want to thank everybody for really welcoming me here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the third time that I\u2019m here in three years and hopefully, if I keep on going next year I\u2019ll be back, if you guys want me here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic shares his plans for the rest of the year after Six Kings Slam retirement<\/p>\n

Despite his struggles on the court, Djokovic clearly plans to return next year, although it remains to be seen how his body will be feeling by that stage.<\/p>\n

For now, the veteran plans to recover, having said of his plans for the rest of the year: \u201cWell now it\u2019s rest and really addressing some of the issues I have with my body. And then hopefully playing the last couple of tournaments of the season, let\u2019s see.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Tim Henman suggests when Novak Djokovic should retire after his struggles against Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz<\/a><\/p>\n

There is indeed the small matter of the ATP Finals potentially still to come for Djokovic between now and the end of the year.<\/p>\n

He has joined Alcaraz and Sinner in qualifying for the tournament, which takes place in Torino next month.<\/p>\n

Djokovic also qualified for the year-end event last time out, but decided not to play due to his injury issues back then.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now qualified for the ATP Finals a stunning 18 times, having lifted the trophy on seven occasions, more than any other player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Novak Djokovic fell short of a winning end to his Six Kings Slam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[6766,67043,101,11310,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-210546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-novak-djokovic","9":"tag-six-kings-slam","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-taylor-fritz","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}