French Open 2024: Novak Djokovic Withdraws From Tournament Due To Knee Injury, Loses No. 1 Ranking

Defending champion Novak Djokovic on Tuesday withdrew from the French Open 2024 due to a right knee injury. The Serbian tennis legend had an MRI on his injured knee and found a meniscus tear.

Djokovic's withdrawal means he will lose 1600 ranking points. He will also be dethroned by Jannik Sinner as the new world No. 1 player in men's ATP Rankings.

The three-time champion was scheduled to face seventh seed Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Norwegian Ruud will play his third consecutive semi-final here in Paris after finishing runners-up in the last two years.

He will face the winner of the quarterfinal between fourth seed Alexander Zverev or 11th seed Alex de Minaur in the last-four.

Playing through pain

Djokovic had reached the quarters of the clay-court major thanks to back-to-back five-set victories against Lorenzo Musetti and Francisco Cerundolo. But he then struggled with his right knee during his Monday win against Cerundolo.

After the match, Djokovic revealed that he had felt the knee since before the tournament.

“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," said Djokovic in his post-match press conference. "I was playing a few tournaments with it, and had no issues until today."

Djokovic is a three-time French Open winner, having lifted the prestigious trophy in 2016, 2021 and 2023.