Turns Out Novak Djokovic Tore His Meniscus In Yesterday's Marathon Five Set Match As He Announces He's Withdrawn From The French Open
Christian Liewig - Corbis. Getty Images.Well, turns out maybe he's not invincible. A day after a four and half hour comeback win in the 4th round of the French Open, Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the tournament after an MRI found a tear in his meniscus. Brutal news for Novak and the tournament as a whole.
Novak came into the tournament not feeling great, but his slip early in the match led to the injury. Mid-match he lashed out on the tournament heads for not consistently sweeping the clay as often as they should have been. The dude complains about a lot of stuff, but here he was speaking pure common sense there. Just the French Open being dumb for no reason.
Now I'll lay out the ripple effects from Novak withdrawing..
-Novak is likely headed for surgery to repair the injury. That would almost definitely sideline him for Wimbledon and some time after that. The interesting wrinkle here is that Novak has long hated the concept of surgery. When he had to surgically repair his elbow a long time ago, he said he cried for days because he felt he failed himself. Djokovic and his witch doctor have long sided with spiritual medicines to cure his ailments.
-Regarding his timeline, the one thing he truly cares about moving forward is the Summer Olympics. To start the year he made it clear that was a priority. Novak has tried and failed multiple times to win a gold medal. It kills him inside that he hasn't won a gold yet. Surgery would pretty much rule out the Olympic Games for Novak, so that could lead him to opt for a non-surgical direction if possible.
-Jannik Sinner becomes the new world no. 1. While this was inevitable with the lack of matches Djokovic had played this year and how amazing Sinner has been, it does solidify it quicker than originally thought.
-Djokovic's injury will lead to him sitting out a handful of big tournaments. He's defending a ton of points at Wimbledon, Cincy, and the US Open. If he can't get himself right he risks dropping out of the top 10. The light at the end of the tunnel of his career is getting brighter.
-Brutal for the tournament to lose a quarterfinalist and this gifting Casper Ruud a semifinal spot. Some will argue Francisco Cerundolo, who lost to Novak, should be allowed to move on but that's a terrible argument. If he wanted to advance he should have found a way to beat Novak with the many opportunities he had. Same thing goes for Fritz at Wimbledon after he lost to a hobbled Nadal, who then withdrew from the tournament. If you can't take care of business you don't deserve to move on.
-How the fuck did Novak win that match with a torn meniscus?
What this really sets up is a final before the final involving Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. That involves Carlos beating Tsitsipas in a few hours, but if he's able to, the winner of that semifinal match more than likely is your champion. Zverev could have something to say about that, but he's been getting through his matches by the skin of his teeth. It's Sinner or Alcaraz. Just get us there and then Friday we have a box office match on our hands.
