It was only yesterday Novak Djokovic was saying Tomas Berdych’s shoulder injury was more serious than his own. Now Nole has been forced to retire from the Cincinnati finals because of his shoulder allowing Andy Murray, who was leading 6-4, 3-0, to lift the trophy, ending Djokovic’s unbeaten run in tour finals this year.
It is the second title of the year for Murray and also his second in Cincinnati and the world number four as delighted with his change in fortunes after disappointment at the Rogers Cup. “It was really a good week after I struggled last week. I didn’t drop a set and beat some very good players from pretty much the first round onwards. Against Nalbandian who I started off against it was tough, and then Mardy was playing really good tennis going into the semis.
I would have obviously liked to have won by finishing the match. But it happens sometimes. I have to look at the week as a whole. It’s been a very good week. Coming in here I had played badly in Montréal, so I needed to have a good week. Regardless of the match today, I was happy with the way that it had gone. Glad I managed to win today, but unfortunate the way it happened.”
Novak said that while he maybe could have played a few more games his shoulder was stopping him from serving and hitting forehands. “I just could not serve. I served an average 90 miles per hour the first serve, and I could not play forehands. I could have maybe played another couple of games, but what for? I 
cannot beat a player like Murray today with one stroke.”
Djokovic then took to Facebook to apologize to fans and reassure them that he’d be ready for the US Open where he was a finalist last year.
Dear friends and fans,i want to apologise to all of you who expected a better and longer match today. Shoulder could not take it anymore,and it didn’t make sense to continue. Congratulation to Andy Murray for successful week. Thank you very much for the support,and see you in NYC.I will work on the recovery of my shoulder in next 7,8 days,and i hope and believe that everything is going to be ready for Us Open.
It will be interesting to see how Novak’s shoulder pulls up and how much damage there is because shoulders can be tricky things to treat!
