Wimbledon 2017: Novak Djokovic retires injured from quarter-final clash with Tomas Berdych

Djokovic had received treatment on a shoulder injury during his fourth-round win over Adrian Mannarino and was coy when questioned afterwards over what the long-term effects might be.

He said it had been something that was ongoing and when he found himself 5-1 down in the first-set tie-break to Berdych he called for the trainer.

The Czech player went on to seal the breaker and Djokovic took a medical timeout.

The trainer appeared to be working not on Djokovic’s shoulder but his elbow before the Serbian returned.

He took a 40-0 lead in his service game after Berdych had held comfortably at the beginning of the set, but he then lost five straight points and was broken.

The three-time Wimbledon champion lasted just one more point before retiring to the disappointment of the No1 Court crowd.

Berdych came into the quarterfinal with an unenviable record against Djokovic, having won just two of their previous encounters.

Two of those meetings have come at this very venue, and it is the only place other than Rome where Berdych has happy memories of playing Djokovic. It is the scene of his solitary major win over Djokovic and it came seven years ago at the semifinal stage when the Czech player won in straight sets.

Since then, Djokovic has added 11 more Grand Slam titles and 23 more professional wins over Berdych, although the 31-year-old showed no signs of being intimidated by the apparent improbability of his task.

Instead, he applied himself gamely, perhaps hoping that the shoulder injury on which Djokovic received treatment against Adrian Mannarino would come to give the Serbian further problems as the match wore on.

Berdych battled hard but could not register his first ace until the 12th game of the set and could not get his first serve percentage above the mid-50s.

It made it all the more surprising then when he dominated the tie-break, taking the first point with a drop shot to open up a mini-break before unforced errors from Djokovic allowed him to stretch the lead to 5-1 at the change of ends.

As he passed the umpire, Djokovic asked him to call the trainer, and once the first set had slipped away, Djokovic received the elbow treatment that was eventually in vain.