Defending champion and No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic’s campaign in the US Open came to an abrupt end after he quit in his fourth-round match against Stan Wawrinka because of pain in his left shoulder last Sunday.
Djokovic retired from the match while trailing Wawrinka, 6-4, 7-5, 2-1.
The ending came when Djokovic walked over to the chair umpire to say he was conceding.
Some spectators booed Djokovic as he was heading to the locker room. Djokovic responded with a thumbs-up, an AP report said.
“I’m sorry for the crowd. Obviously they came to see a full match, and just wasn’t to be,” Djokovic said in the report.
The 32-year-old Serb said he had been taking different medicines but “sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Djokovic said the pain had been bothering him for weeks.
Djokovic’s opponent, Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka said it was unfortunate that an injury forced Djokovic to retire.
“It’s never the way you want to finish the match. I feel sorry for Novak,” said Wawrinka in the same AP report.