Novak Djokovic, 2018 Australian Open, Hyeon Chung
Tennis - Australian Open - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 22, 2018. South Korea's Chung Hyeon with Serbia's Novak Djokovic after Chung Hyeon wins the match. Reuters / Edgar Su

Six-time champion Novak Djokovic crashed out of the 2018 Australian Open on Monday after suffering a 6-7, 5-7, 6-7 loss to unseeded South Korean Hyeon Chung in a fourth-round match. Chung will now face unseeded American Tennys Sandgren in the quarter-final on Wednesday.

Djokovic, the most successful Australian Open champion in the Open Era, was playing his first competitive tennis tournament since last year's Wimbledon after skipping the second half of 2017 with an elbow injury. Djokovic had troubles with his elbow during the straight sets loss to Chung.

The Serb took a medical time-out at the end of the first set to get treatment on his injured right elbow. Despite the injury, Djokovic lasted three hours and 21 minutes against Chung in a back-and-forth encounter. After the match, Djokovic acknowledged that he was compromised by the injury and unable to close break points.

2018 Australian Open: Elbow injury derails Djokovic

“It's frustrating, of course, when you have that much time and you don't heal properly. But it is what it is. There is some kind of a reason behind all of this. I'm just trying my best obviously because I love this sport. I enjoy training. I enjoy getting myself better, hoping that I can get better, perform and compete. Today was one of those days where, unfortunately, it was too much to deal with," Djokovic told reporters after the loss, via The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, Chung revealed the bitter-sweet emotions of beating his childhood idol in the biggest victory of his career. “It’s a dream come true tonight. I’m really just happy. When I was young I was just trying to copy Novak because he is my idol. I’m just honoured to play with Novak again.”

Hyeon Chung is in line for a potential semi-final showdown against defending champion Roger Federer. The 21-year-old Chung continues to build steam since his monumental win at the inaugural Next Generation ATP Finals in November. Several tennis analysts consider Chung as part of the next wave of stars in the sport that also includes Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Denis Shapovalov and Nick Kyrgios, among others.