Novak Djokovic out of French Open with knee injury

PARIS – Novak Djokovic pulled out of the French Open ahead of his quarter-final against Casper Ruud due to a knee injury suffered in the previous round, tournament organisers announced on June 4.

“Due to a torn medial meniscus in his right knee (discovered during an MRI scan performed today), Novak Djokovic... has been forced to withdraw from the Roland Garros tournament,” organisers said in a statement.

World No. 1 and 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic was due to play Ruud on June 5 for a place in the last four. Djokovic defeated Ruud in the 2023 Roland Garros final.

As a result, Ruud will go on to face either fourth seed Alexander Zverev or 11th seed Alex de Minaur in the semi-finals on June 7.

“I am really sad to announce that I have to withdraw from Roland Garros,” Djokovic wrote on social media. “I played with my heart and gave my all in yesterday’s match and unfortunately, due to a medial meniscus tear in my right knee, my team and I had to make a tough decision.”

The 37-year-old Djokovic had cast doubts over his fitness following his five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo on June 3, admitting he needed anti-inflammatory drugs to get through the match.

He had said: “At one point I didn’t know whether I should continue or not with what’s happening. I got the medications and then, after the third set was done, I asked for more medications and got them.

“That was the maximum dose that kicked in... after 30 to 45 minutes, which was about the time at the end of the fourth set, when things started to really improve for me. I started to feel less limitations in my movement.”

Djokovic blamed the “slippery” Court Philippe-Chatrier for the injury he sustained early in the second set of his 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Cerundolo.

“The injury that I had today with the knee happened exactly because of that, because I slipped and slid a lot,” he added.

“Everyone slides on clay, but I slipped way too many times. That is quite unusual. I do, because I have an aggressive kind of movement, dynamic change of directions. It’s normal for me.

“I’ve slipped and fallen on the clay many times in my life, and on grass as well, but this was just too many times today... Could have this injury be prevented? Possibly, if there was just a little bit more of frequent care of the court during the set...

“For the last couple weeks I have had, I would say, slight discomfort, I would call it that way, in the right knee, but I haven’t had an injury that would be concerning me at all. I was playing a few tournaments with it, and no issues until today.”

His withdrawal means that Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, who beat Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on June 4 to reach the French Open semi-finals for the first time, will become Italy’s first men’s world No. 1 on June 10.

The Serb star arrived at the tournament with his status at the top under threat from Sinner, who was guaranteed to supplant Djokovic if the latter failed to reach the final in Paris.

Djokovic has spent a record 428 weeks at the top of the rankings.

His injury extends his worst start to a season since 2018, when he did not win an event until claiming the Wimbledon title.

Adding to his problems, he was accidentally hit on the head by a metal water bottle in Rome in May before suffering stomach problems in Geneva.

Djokovic last pulled out of a Grand Slam during the 2019 US Open, when a shoulder problem forced him to quit against Stan Wawrinka in the last 16. AFP, REUTERS