Novak Djokovic was forced to retire from his Six Kings Slam third-place playoff against Taylor Fritz after just one set, before issuing an apology to the crowd in Riyadh
Novak Djokovic apologized to the Saudi crowd after pulling out of Taylor Fritz match(Image: Getty)
Novak Djokovic stunned onlookers by suddenly withdrawing from his Six Kings Slam third-place playoff against Taylor Fritz after completing just one set, before grabbing the microphone to offer his apologies to the audience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The pair fought through a grueling opening set before the Serbian tennis icon approached the umpire and announced he was abandoning the match with immediate effect.
Fritz claimed victory, 7-6, after 76 brutal minutes on court, and while Djokovic – whose father has made his views known about the tennis great’s retirement decision – was visibly battling physical problems, his abrupt exit left Netflix commentators stunned. They admitted it was “surprising” to see the 38-year-old pull out.
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Djokovic disclosed his plan to “address the physical issues he’s been having and hopefully playing the last couple of tournaments of the season” while extending his apologies to Saudi supporters who made the journey to watch him compete.
He also hinted at a possible return to the tournament next year, though, and his comments suggest he might still participate this season – potentially in Turin. “I want to apologize to everybody, sorry guys, I’m sorry you couldn’t see the second set,” Djokovic said.
“But credit to Taylor, I mean, we had some incredible games towards the end of that set, and it was one of the longest sets I’ve ever played, to be honest.
“It was amazing to be in Riyadh once again, I want to thank everybody for really welcoming me here. This is the third time I have been here in three years and hopefully, if I keep on going next year, I’ll be back, if you guys want me here.”
As Djokovic made his entrance to a roaring crowd, Fritz took the mic and shared: “That was really physical. What happens is you get into those really long games and the ball starts to wear out and get so huge, to the point where it’s so hard to get a free point on the serve, or a winner, so it’s playing the long points and games.
“It makes everything slower, longer, it’s such a tough set and at the end of it, conditions just got so slow. We were playing long rallies, back-to-back-to-back, just fighting for every point, so it was brutal.”
Djokovic pulled out of the third-place clash after losing the first set(Image: Getty)
When asked about his match against Djokovic, Fritz replied: “It’s amazing. It’s crazy, all these guys that I grew up watching dominate tennis and I get to play with them, it’s not like this is anything new, Novak’s been beating me for a very long time, probably at least the last eight years.
“It’s always a pleasure to share the court with the best players of all time.”
The American player was then questioned about who he thought would emerge victorious in the final face-off between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, to which he responded: “Don’t do that to me, but it’s really tough to say.
“What I will say when I played Carlos it felt very, very tough. I definitely want to see what Sinner does to deal with that, because I didn’t have the answers.”