Novak Djokovic warned the night before that he did not have it all together, that this Tuesday he would examine the knee that he injured during the round of 16 match against the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo and that, perhaps, he would not take to the court on Wednesday to play the rooms. The 37-year-old Serbian won in five sets, agonizing from the second to the fourth, until the medication took effect and he escaped; However, the “tear of the medial meniscus” suffered in the joint will not allow him to continue in this Roland Garros which had resulted in a matter of suffering for him, too long in tow. Nole will not continue, so the Norwegian Casper Ruud progresses directly to the semifinals and men’s tennis elevates the new king, the Italian Jannik Sinner. The one from San Candido, 22 years old and this year’s champion in Australia, ousts the one from Belgrade and is already enjoying the views from the ATP penthouse for the first time.
In the middle of the afternoon this Tuesday, the organization of the great Frenchman announced the extent of the injury and the departure from the tournament of the Balkan player, winner of 24 majors and who was defending the title won last year. “Forced to retire” after the MRI diagnosis, according to the note. Djokovic, who had arrived in Paris with “a slight discomfort,” as he stated in the conference room, had left the venue the night before in pain and upset, not knowing if he would be able to continue and pointing to the poor condition of the court, exposed for a long week in the rain and humidity of Paris. “I’m not blaming anyone, but I’ve hurt myself,” he said. “Yes, I won and I survived, but will I be able to play the next game? Don’t know. I don’t know the severity of the injury. Could it have been prevented? Possibly yes, if I had taken care of the court a little more during the set,” he disfigured the tournament, after having protested several times to the chair umpire and the supervisor, following several slips.
“I screwed up my knee,” he said in the middle of the action. “All I ask is that they sweep the bottoms of the track. “Is it too much to ask?” continued Nole, who disembarked in the major Parisian in doubt and with a relatively low profile; specifically, “with low expectations and high hopes.” The Serbian wanted to leave behind the bad feelings of a course in which he has not celebrated any title and in which, beyond the semifinals reached in Australia and those in Monte Carlo, his performance has been very discreet. He is there but he is not there, somehow. Even so, he was able to overcome two very difficult situations in the last two appointments, after having resolved without problems the commitments against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and the Spanish Roberto Carballés. Last Saturday he closed the fight with Lorenzo Musetti at three in the morning, settled in five sets, and on Monday he resisted Cerúndolo despite the pain in his knee.
“At one point, I didn’t know whether to continue or not,” he conveyed. But the pills, he clarified, helped him continue and play the last round with relative “normality.” Once the effect of the narcotics has ended and the subsequent review has been carried out, the Balkan has finally chosen to abandon, so he will not be able to undo the historic tie of the 9th, the date of the final. majors which he shares with the Australian Margaret Court. Beyond the instant impact of his decision, which paints a new and attractive scenario in a tournament that began without a clear favorite, the mishap raises questions regarding his participation in Wimbledon – starting July 1 – and also in the Games that will be held this summer in Paris—starting on the 26th of the same month. With the showcase of trophies and records more than full, Olympic gold is one of the few awards that eludes her, and she repeats that she would not like to close her career without achieving that last achievement. The treatment in the coming weeks, then, will determine whether or not she is in a position to do so.
Without major setbacks throughout his career, except for some elbow problems that forced him to undergo surgery in 2018, Nole only gave up playing once – Paris-Bercy 2011, due to his right shoulder – and has retired. 14 times.
If this season’s bad fortune predicted a complicated outcome for him in Paris, his replacement, Sinner, has been gathering merit to sit on the throne for some time. The Italian’s current physique is not excessively positive either – he gave up competing the week before Roland Garros in Rome due to persistent hip problems – but he continues to progress (6-2, 6-4 and 7-6(3) to Grigor Dimitrov) and already looks like the first player of his nationality, whether man or woman, at the top of the circuit. He now has an advantage of 895 points over Djokovic, which could increase if he beats his next opponent, Carlos Alcaraz or Stefanos Tsitsipas, in the semifinals — scheduled tonight, around 8:30 p.m. —. His powerful tennis has made its way to crown him for the first time, after having won 13 titles in the elite; He highlights the last Australian Open above all, accompanied by two Masters 1000 (Canada 2023 and Miami 2024) and unparalleled consistency since October. Red-haired, long-haired (1.88), mature, non-conformist and educated, the Tyrolean, a modern prototype, is the new reference of a sport that has definitely turned a page.
What the rivals could not achieve these days, the knee has achieved. Accustomed to prevailing over the damage that his body may have suffered, Djokovic gives way.
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