No. 1 seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic withdrew from the French Open on Tuesday due to a right knee injury.
The 37-year-old Serbian star fought through the injury and reached the quarterfinals on Monday with a five-set victory against No. 23 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
An MRI exam after the match revealed a torn medial meniscus, according to tournament officials.
“For the last couple weeks I have had slight discomfort, I would call it, in the right knee, but I haven’t had an injury that would be concerning me at all,” Djokovic said after Monday’s win. “I was playing a few tournaments with it, and had no issues until today.
“Of course, (the) late finish from a few nights ago didn’t help the sleeping, the biorhythm, and recovery. But I actually felt great coming into the match — as good as I could under the circumstances — and played really well first set. Then in the third game of the second set, I slipped, one of the many times that I slipped and fell today. That affected the knee.”
Djokovic, who also won titles at Roland Garros in 2016 and 2021, had been scheduled to face No. 7 seed Casper Ruud of Norway in the final eight. Ruud advances to the semifinals in a walkover.
Djokovic’s 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory against Cerundolo took four hours and 39 minutes. That was on the heels of a five-set victory against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti that lasted four hours and 29 minutes.
The world No. 1’s win against Cerundolo was his 370th in a Grand Slam event, breaking the record established by longtime rival Roger Federer. Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
–Field Level Media
