Tennis-Open-Djokovic blames mental block for third round exit

By Sonia Oxley

PARIS, May 30 (Reuters) - Fourth seed Novak Djokovic was at a loss to explain his mental weakness after being knocked out in the French Open third round on Saturday.

"I think it was just me and my head today," the Serb told reporters after suffering his earliest Paris defeat since 2005, losing 6-4 6-4 6-4 to Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.

"I can't really explain why ... it's just a bad day at the office as they say."

Djokovic, one of the in-form players on clay, had looked comfortable leading 4-1 in the opening set before allowing the 29th seed to take control with an array of fierce crosscourt shots.

"He didn't give me a lot of chances. But yet again, I didn't work for those chances. This is the problem. I played too passive, and he played really solid from all the strokes," said the world number four. "I didn't find the rhythm, that's all.

"I'm one of the favourites to get far in the tournament. Of course, it's all my fault, and I accept the responsibility."

He said that while he had no physical problems, he had found it hard to move around the court in pursuit of the endless series of top-notch shots that the German bombarded him with.

"It was my movement on the return that was difficult to control. My legs were really stuck," said Djokovic, who came to Paris on the back of clay finals in Monte Carlo and Rome.