After Knee Injury, Novak Djokovic Uncertain If He’ll Play French Open Quarterfinal

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic says he’s uncertain if he’ll be able to play his French Open quarterfinal on Wednesday after tweaking his right knee in Monday’s five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo.

“I have had some minor knee issue for few weeks, but no big deal,” Djokovic said following his 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 fourth-round victory. “Then I slipped in [the] second set and I felt pain. I took a lot of painkillers and they started to work, end of 4th. I don’t know if I’ll play quarterfinal, we’ll wait and see.”

The 37-year-old Serb is due to face No. 7 Casper Rudd in the quarterfinals after Ruud beat American No. 12 Taylor Fritz in four sets.

Djokovic took a medical timeout in the early part of the second set after appearing to tweak his knee during a lengthy point that saw him scramble around the court.

“I started feeling the pain [in set two] and asked for the physio treatment and the medical timeout and tried to take care of it,” he said. “It did disrupt me definitely in play. For two sets, two sets and a half, I didn’t want to stay in the rally too long. Every time he would make sudden drop shots or change directions, I would not be feeling comfortable to do the running.

“At one point I didn’t know, to be honest, whether I should continue or not with what’s happening.”

The three-time Roland Garros champion ultimately overcame the injury to win, avoiding his first loss in a major before the quarterfinals since the 2020 U.S. Open when he was defaulted for hitting a line judge with a ball. He earned his 370th career major win, breaking a tie with Roger Federer.

Djokovic, who hasn’t won a title in 2024, remains alive for his 25th career major and can still retain his world No. 1 ranking.

Djokovic was coming off a five-set epic against Italian Lorenzo Musetti that ended after 3 a.m. Sunday. He didn’t leave the grounds until after 4 a.m.

But he again stormed back from down two-sets-to-one, earning the break for 5-3 in the fifth set with a series of brilliant baseline rallies that he capped off with a forehand winner that clipped the line for the break.

Serving at 5-3, 40-15, Djokovic closed it out after Cerundolo hit a backhand wide. Djokovic pointed to the line, the umpire came down from the chair and ruled that it was out.

Djokovic raised his hands to the crowd and walked around with his arms spread wide and then clapped to the crowd.

During the medical timeout in the second set, the trainer stretched Djokovic’s right knee and upper calf and then Djokovic stretched it some more against the umpire’s chair.

He was clearly not right for much of the rest of the match, and his movement appeared limited at times. He stretched the knee often, and occasionally flashed looks of concern.

Djokovic was broken in the second game of the third set and quickly fell behind 0-3. On set point, Cerundolo hit a service winner that Djokovic returned into the bottom of the net.

In the fourth set, Cerundolo broken Djokovic for a 3-2 lead when the Serb hit a two-handed backhand long.

Djokovic broke back for 4-all, hitting a brilliant two-handed backhand winner to set up break point. On the ensuing point, the Serb earned the break when Cerundolo netted a backhand.

With Cerundolo serving at 5-6 in the fourth, Djokovic broke him on the fourth set point when the Argentinian hit a forehand into the net. Djokovic raised his arms and shouted to the crowd.

In the fifth set, Djokoic tumbled again while hitting a forehand and fell to the clay. He again complained about the court and then poured water onto his arm to clean off the clay.

On another point, he did a full stretch to earn a winner at the net and then motioned that he was swimming face down on the clay.

He lived again to fight another day and remains alive for major No. 25.