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novak djokovic Apologized to the crowd after retiring from his Six Kings Slam third-place match against Taylor Fritz Due to an injury.
The 38-year-old lost a physical first set against Fritz in 75 minutes and shook hands with the American after winning the tiebreak 7-4.
Djokovic appeared to be suffering from a left foot injury during the match and decided he could not continue playing in slow conditions.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion lost in straight sets to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals on Thursday and retired on Saturday.
“Not great, I want to apologize to everyone,” Djokovic said to the crowd before leaving the court. “Sorry guys. Sorry you couldn’t see the second set. It was one of the longest sets I’ve ever played.
“Credit to Taylor. We had some incredible games at the end of that set, and honestly it’s one of the longest sets I’ve ever played.
“It was once again a wonderful trip to Riyadh for me. I really want to thank everyone for welcoming me. Hopefully if I keep going next year, I’ll come back if you guys want me here.”
Djokovic has signed to play in the ATP 250 tournament in Athens and on Saturday became the third player to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin, which will be played in November.
Djokovic equaled Roger Federer’s record by qualifying for the year-end final for the 18th time, but last year he decided to withdraw from the tournament.
“Now it’s rest and I’m really solving some problems with my body,” Djokovic said. “Then hopefully play the last few tournaments of the season, let’s see.”
Fritz saved set points against Djokovic on his way to winning the opening set against the 24-time Grand Slam champion, whom he had not beaten in 11 previous attempts.
“He was really physical,” Fritz said. “You get into those really long games and the balls start to wear out and get so big that it becomes so hard to get a free point on serve, to hit a winner.
“Playing long points, playing long games, makes everything slower and longer. It was such a tough set and at the end of it, like I said, the conditions got very slow. We’re just playing long rallies, one after another, just fighting for every point, so it was brutal.”