Eleven active players with the most retirements: Novak Djokovic joint fifth

Which active men’s tennis player has lost the most matches by retirement? Does anyone want to take a guess?

If not, then you will have to scroll down to get the answer and we have to say we were surprised by the name and the fact that his tally was six more than the next player on the list.

The eleven players with the most matches lost by retirement:

=10. Nick Kyrgios and Marcel Granollers – 10 retirements

Nick Kyrgios’ first-ever defeat via retirement came against Dominic Thiem in Nice in 2015 as he threw in the towel with the score 4-3 in the opening set due to an elbow injury. His most recent retirement was at Wimbledon 2021 against Felix Auger-Aliassime when he retired at 2-6, 6-1 because of an abdominal injury.

Besides the 10 retirements, Kyrgios has also lost four matches via walkover.

Former world No 19 Marcel Granollers is also in double figures although he hasn’t retired since Moscow 2015 when he threw in the towel with the score 5-2 in Stephane Robert’s favour.

=8. Dusan Lajovic and Jiri Vesely – 11 retirements

Dusan Lajovic’s most recent retirement came in August 2023 at the Cincinnati Open. The Serbian came through qualifying and he upset eighth seed Jannik Sinner in the round of 32, but the workload took its toll as he retired from his fourth-round clash against Taylor Fritz with the American leading 5-0.

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Jiri Vesely didn’t have a particularly good time during the mid-2016 season as he retired from his match against Carlos Berlocq at the Umag Open in mid-July and then also retired from his match against Andrey Kuznetsov at the Winston-Salem Open a few weeks later.

He then featured in the first round of the US Open, but was unable to play against world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round, giving the top seed a walkover.

=5. Novak Djokovic, Benoit Paire and Mikhail Kukushkin – 13 retirements

Novak Djokovic came in for a lot of criticism during his younger days for not finishing matches. He even drew the ire of Roger Federer after he retired from his quarter-final clash against Andy Roddick at the 2009 Australian Open.

“He’s not a guy who’s never given up before. It’s disappointing. I’ve only done it once in my career. Andy [Roddick] totally deserved to win that match. I’m almost in favour of saying, you know what, if you’re not fit enough, just get out of here,” Federer said.

Ten of Djokovic’s 13 retirements came during the first 10 years of his career with only three coming after 2015. In fact, he hasn’t retired from a match since the 2019 US Open when he was booed after throwing in the towel during his round of 16 clash against Stan Wawrinka with the score 6-4, 7-5, 2-1 in the Swiss’ favour.

Benoit Paire is no stranger to controversy as he is the first to admit that he is not passionate about tennis. The 2021 season saw the Frenchman retire three times while in 2022 he threw in the towel twice.

Former world No 39 Mikhail Kukushkin has retired 13 times, but not one of those retirements came in the first set of a match. His most recent retirement was at the 2023 Shanghai Masters when he quit with Dan Evans leading 6-2, 3-0.

4. Juan Martin del Potro – 14 retirements

Juan Martin del Potro insists he hasn’t retired from the sport even though he hasn’t played competitive tennis since February 2022. It is very much a case of “what could have been” for the Argentine as various wrist and knee injuries have curtailed his career.

Del Potro retired five times during the 2007 season, twice during the 2008 campaign and twice in 2009.

Just months after he won the 2009 US Open, Del Potro’s injury nightmare started as he was forced to undergo surgery in 2010 and sadly he hasn’t been the same player since.

=2. Kei Nishikori and Richard Gasquet – 18 retirements

Much like Del Potro, Kei Nishikori has endured several injury setbacks during the latter stages of his career. His first-ever retirement came at Nottingham in 2008 and his last one was at the 2019 Australian Open when he quit with Novak Djokovic leading 6-1, 4-1 in the quarter-final. Eight of his 18 retirements came midway of the first set.

French veteran Richard Gasquet is joint second and you have to back more than two decades for his first-ever retirement in Palermo in 2002 against David Sanchez. His last retirement was in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open when he quit with the score 4-6, 6-0, 4-0 in Botic Van De Zandschulp’s favour.

1. Gael Monfils – 24 retirements

In case you were wondering, Gael Monfils is also joint-top alongside Tommy Haas and Janko Tipsarevic for most retirements (active and retired players).

The Frenchman’s first retirement was at Bastaad in 2005 when he quit during his clash against Tommy Robredo. The 2012, 2016 and 2021 seasons are the only full campaigns in which Monfils doesn’t have a retirement. His most recent retirement came in the first round of the 2023 Miami Open.

In terms of most matches lost by retirement, walkover or default, Jimmy Connors leads that list with 34 with 19 coming via walkover. He is followed by Tommy Haas (33) and Nikolay Davydenko and Monfils (31).