Shoulder injury puts Novak Djokovic out of US Open

TIL Desk Sports/ Novak Djokovic’s US Open title defence came to a halt on Sunday after he retired from his fourth round match against Stan Wawrinka due to a shoulder injury. Wawrinka was leading 6-4 7-5, 2-1 when world number one Serb, who won four of the last five Grand Slam titles, decided he could not continue and walked off the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to a chorus of boos.

After dropping the second set, Djokovic immediately called for medical attention and sat court side without his shirt on while the trainer massaged his shoulder. He returned to the court but was still clearly hampered by the issue before calling it a day.

“It’s never the way you want to finish a match,” said Wawrinka. “I am really sorry for Novak, he’s an amazing friend.” The shoulder issue flared up earlier this week and nearly saw Djokovic knocked out in the second round on Wednesday but the 32-year-old seemed to have recovered by Friday when he won in straight sets to reach the last 16.