Ailing Djokovic Pulls Out of China Open at LinesMaker.com

BEIJING —Top-ranked Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the China Open
because of a back injury.

Tour­na­ment orga­niz­ers said the defend­ing cham­pion with­drew because the
lat­est med­ical checks show the injury he sus­tained while win­ning the U.S. Open
has not yet healed.

The tour­na­ment in Bei­jing starts on Mon­day. It is not yet clear whether the
24-year-old Serb will also skip the Shang­hai Mas­ters that starts in two weeks.

Djokovic has said the par­tial rup­ture of a back mus­cle that forced him to
quit his Davis Cup semi­fi­nal match against Argentina’s Juan Mar­tin del Potro is
not seri­ous, but requires rest.