“I am truly sad to announce that I have to withdraw from Roland Garros. I played my heart out and gave my all in yesterday’s match and unfortunately, due to a torn medial meniscus in my right knee, my team and I have had to make a difficult decision after careful consideration and analysis.
I wish the players competing this week the best of luck and thank the incredible fans from the bottom of my heart for all their love and continued support. See you soon. With love and gratitude, Nole.”
Novak Djokovic, in the end, had to throw in the towel and announce his withdrawal before the quarterfinal against Casper Ruud.
The Serbian champion won two very tough fifth-set matches against Lorenzo Musetti and Francisco Cerundolo in the third round and the round of 16 respectively; in the latter case, however, a slip worsened the problem with his knee which turned into a rather serious injury.
The hope is to see Djokovic back on the court at Wimbledon, but everything will depend on the path he decides to follow to resolve the situation. Giving up on the London Slam and, above all, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games would be a hard blow for the Belgrade native to swallow.
Novak Djokovic doesn’t want to give up
In a recent interview with SportKlub, Petar Popovic commented on Novak Djokovic’s injury: “The first culprit for the injury is the aging… I said exactly a year ago that it could happen, a knee injury… Nole plays space tennis at that age, and at that age, it’s not easy to recover… Federer also had a problem with the meniscus, those are the years.”
Carlos Alcaraz, at the end of the challenge with Stefanos Tsitsipas, wanted to dedicate a beautiful message to Novak Djokovic in the press conference. “He has always managed to recover quickly from injuries and has always come back stronger than before.
I wish him a speedy recovery, I hope we can enjoy his tennis again as soon as possible. I was surprised that he retired, because he ended up playing very well against Cerúndolo. But that’s tennis.
It’s a great disappointment for all tennis lovers not to be able to admire him in the semifinals”, said the Spaniard.