Saturday, July 15, 2017

On Wednesday, three-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic withdrew from this year’s tournament suffering from an elbow injury. The announcement was made after the Serbian took a medical timeout during the second set in the quarter-final against Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych.

Djokovic said, “It’s unfortunate that I had to finish Wimbledon, a grand slam, this way […] I mean, if someone feels bad about it, it’s me. But, you know, I tried.” His elbow was problematic for more than a year, he said. He also said, “I was able for 30 minutes to play with pain that was bearable. The serve and forehand were the shots where I could feel it the most and after that there was really no sense”.

Djokovic’s pre-quarterfinal against Adrian Mannarino was rescheduled to Tuesday, so the 30-year-old Serbian had to play two matches in two days. Djokovic was two sets down with the scoreboard 7–6 2–0 when world number-two Djokovic decided to stop despite leading their head-to-head record, 25–2.

31-year-old Berdych therefore advanced to play the semi-final against Swiss seven-time Wimbledon Singles Champion Roger Federer. Berdych’s best record at the Wimbledon was finalist in 2010, against Rafa Nadal — when he defeated Federer in quarterfinal. The Czech has never won a Grand Slam title.