Novak Djokovic blames injury exit on Wimbledon delays after retiring hurt against Tomas Berdych

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Novak Djokovic blamed having to play on consecutive days at Wimbledon after he was forced to retire with an elbow problem in Wednesday's quarterfinal against Tomas Berdych.

The Czech will play Roger Federer in Friday's semifinal after Djokovic retired when trailing 6-7 (2-7) 0-2 on Court No.1.

Three-time champion Djokovic was the only men's quarterfinalist to play on consecutive days after his fourth-round match with Adrian Mannarino was rescheduled to Tuesday, despite no matches on Centre Court on Monday evening.

"It's not the shoulder. It's the elbow that already keeps bothering me for over a year and a half actually," Djokovic explained afterwards.

"It's unfortunate that I had to finish Wimbledon, a Grand Slam, in this way. If someone feels bad about it, it's me. I tried what I could do from yesterday to get it in the condition where I'm able to play. I was able for 30 minutes to play with some pain that was bearable. All the treatments and medications couldn't really help.

"I kept doing everything with my physiotherapist, and the ATP physiotherapist to try to recover it and get it into the state where I'm actually able to perform. I was able to perform up to this stage. But as I've said, it was only getting worse.

Djokovic required treatment on an injured elbow
Getty Images

"Unfortunately today was the worst day. Probably the fact that I played yesterday, the days adding up, as I've said before, wasn't helping at all. At the end of the day, this is something I have to deal with and accept it.

Asked specifically about the delay to his victory over Mannarino, he said: "Those kind of particular circumstances don't really help. I spent probably two hours today on the table in between the warmup and match, trying to do everything I possibly could to make me fit.

"But it wasn't to be. For an athlete, especially in an individual sport, there is no way out. If you don't feel fit, unfortunately that's it. You know, there is no one to come instead of you.

"I'm just going to talk with specialists, as I have done in the last year or so, try to figure out what's the best way to treat it and to solve it, to find a long-term solution."

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