World No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic was forced to withdraw from the French Open on Monday with a torn medial meniscus during his dramatic five-set win over Argentina’s 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo. .
“Novak Djokovic, who was scheduled to face Kasper Ruud in the quarter-finals tomorrow, has been forced to play due to a torn medial meniscus in his right knee (discovered during an MRI scan today). Withdrawing from the Roland Garros Championship,” French Open organizers said in a statement.
quick guide
How do I sign up for sports breaking news alerts?
exhibit
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for “The Guardian.”
- If you already have the Guardian app installed, make sure you’re using the latest version.
- In the Guardian app, click the Menu button in the lower right corner, then go to Settings (gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on motion notifications.
Djokovic was leading a set at Court Philippe Chatrier when he slipped on the court and injured his knee. After receiving treatment, the 37-year-old was extremely dissatisfied with the condition of the French Open courts; he believed the rain and bad weather had affected the court, removing some of the top layer of clay, making it even more slippery. In a conversation with tournament director Wayne McIlwain, Djokovic expressed his disappointment that the tournament did not sweep the course more often.
“It looks like some of the clay was moved away, so there was almost no clay on the course today,” he said. “Because of the dry conditions, the sun and the warm conditions, what it does to the clay is, you know, it becomes very slippery. So I hurt my knee today exactly because of that, because I slipped and I slipped a lot. I mean, everyone slips on clay, but I slipped too many times.
Despite limping down 2-4 in the fourth set and two sets down at the same time, Djokovic once again staged a dramatic comeback to win and advance to the quarterfinals. He later said he took a large dose of painkillers, which allowed him to play without pain in the final stages of the game, but said he would not know more until he had a scan.
“After the third set, I asked for more drugs and I got them,” Djokovic said. “That was the maximum dose that started to take effect, and as I heard from the doctor about 30 to 45 minutes later, that’s when things started to really improve towards the end of the fourth quarter. I started to feel the impact on my movement. The restrictions were reduced. Basically the whole fifth set was almost pain-free, which is great, you know, but the effects of the medication don’t last long, so I’ll see.
With Djokovic withdrawing, Sinner will be promoted to No. 1 for the first time in his career next week. Sinner will become the first Italian world number one in ATP ranking history, and the 22-year-old’s ascension means that the world number one born in the 2000s (Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner) will be better than those born in the 1990s ( Daniil Medvedev) and more).
The injury also means there is a major doubt over Djokovic’s availability at Wimbledon, where he is a seven-time champion and reached the final last year, losing to Alcaraz.
This season remains one of the most difficult years of Djokovic’s career. He has struggled to find his form and motivation since arriving in Paris, but he still has not won the title this year, which has only happened once at this stage since he won his first title in 2006.
Despite the Serbian’s monumental effort in Paris, he came from two sets down to beat 30th seed Lorenzo Musetti at 3:07 a.m. in his final two games on court. It took nine hours and then another dramatic comeback from injury. .
