World No. 2 Djokovic Loses to Querrey of U.S. in Paris Masters

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the Paris Masters today by Sam Querrey of the U.S., his earliest tournament exit for more than two years.

Querrey, ranked 23rd on the ATP tennis tour, won 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the second round after Djokovic had a bye in the first. The Serb lost at the same stage in the Miami Masters in March 2010.

Even so, Djokovic is assured of regaining the top ranking from Roger Federer next week and will finish the season as No. 1 for the second straight year.

There’d been speculation Djokovic might pull out of the Paris tournament after his father was taken ill back home, Belgrade newspaper Blic reported. Srdjan Djokovic was diagnosed with an acute respiratory condition and his son flew to Belgrade to see him earlier this week, the paper said.

“Srdjan has pulled through, the worst is behind him” and he may be discharged from the hospital in about 10 days, said Goran Djokovic, Srdjan’s brother, in a phone interview with Bloomberg News earlier today.

Djokovic, 25, lost the top spot in July to Federer, who has withdrawn from this week’s event and won’t have enough points to retain the top position. No. 4 Rafael Nadal still hasn’t recovered from a knee injury that’s kept him out since Wimbledon.

The season-ending ATP World Tour Finals for the eight top singles and doubles players starts Nov. 5 in London.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh on the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Elser at celser@bloomberg.net