Novak Djokovic withdrew from his match at The Boodles

The Serbian was scheduled to play Robin Haase at the exhibition event in England but decided against it in an apparent attempt to avoid exacerbating the problem.

An on-court announcement, not from Djokovic, explained: "Sometimes the best preparation is not to play. He had to pull out of Madrid due to a slight niggle of a wrist injury. He went on to make the final of the French Open. "He's made this really difficult decision to not play today; a precautionary measure in preparation for Wimbledon next week."

Djokovic, ranked second in the world, claimed his first and to date only Wimbledon crown in 2011 and has since taken his grand-slam tally to six, though the French Open continues to elude him after a four-set final loss to Rafael Nadal earlier this month.

Wimbledon begins on Monday and the draw for the grass-court event will be made on Friday.

Djokovic is seeded first for the third grand slam of the year.