Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick pulled out of next week’s BNP Paribas Masters tennis tournament in Paris because of a knee injury, organizers said.

“It’s a problem he has had in Shanghai a month ago,” event director Jean-Francois Caujolle said in an interview today. “It came back this week.”

After narrowly losing the Wimbledon finals to top-ranked Roger Federer, Roddick was unexpectedly beaten by fellow American John Isner in the third round of the U.S. Open.

The sixth-ranked Roddick is the last American man to have won a Grand Slam, the 2003 U.S. Open, when he finished the year ranked No. 1. Since then, he’s been eclipsed on the tennis circuit by Federer, who won a record-breaking 15th major at the All England Club after the two men played a 30-game fifth set, and second-ranked Rafael Nadal. Both Federer and Nadal will compete in the French capital.

Last month in Shanghai, Roddick stopped his match against Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka because of a knee injury while leading 4-3 in the first set. Later, on the Twitter social networking site, he complained about the 11-month tennis season, one of the longest in professional sports.

The event in Paris is the last before the ATP World Tour Finals in London, which start Nov. 22. Roddick has already qualified for the year-end championships.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh at the London sports desk at

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 11:49 EST