Djokovic considering break after wimbledon retirement.

Novak Djokovic said right elbow damage was at fault for his retirement from Wednesday’s Wimbledon quarter-last against Tomas Berdych and he was also suffering from the right shoulder issue

The three-time Wimbledon champion, who might have recovered the world No 1 positioning in the event that he had won the competition, was trailing 7-6 (2) 2-0 when he threw in the towel on Court One.

Djokovic had to retire with an elbow injury that forced him to rule out of Wimbledon and will consider taking a break.

“It’s my elbow. It’s been bothering me for a year and a half. It’s unfortunate I have to finish Wimbledon like this,” said Djokovic after his first Grand Slam retirement since the 2009 Australian Open quarter-finals.

“I started feeling it at the beginning of the tournament. The level of pain was always increasing and today was the worst day. I tried what I could do to get it in condition to be able to play.

“All the treatments couldn’t really help. The serve and forehand were the shots I could feel it most.”

Djokovic was particularly baffled to have needed to haul out with damage in the wake of griping intensely that Wimbledon coordinators ought to have permitted his last 16 match to be played on Monday evening rather than Tuesday morning.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion needed to confront Adrian Mannarino a day later than planned because of the late complete of Rafael Nadal’s annihilation against Gilles Muller.

Djokovic had required treatment on his shoulder amid his triumph over Mannarino.

“I never had a rest throughout my career. I had a schedule to play all the time. The specialists that I’ve talked with, they haven’t been really too clear, mentioning also surgery, mentioning different options. Nobody was very clear in what needs to be done.

“As long as it kind of comes and goes, it’s fine, but obviously, adding up, maybe it worked for seven, eight, 10 months, but now the next seven months is not working that great.

“Obviously it’s adding up more and more. The more I play, the worse it gets.”