Novak Djokovic WITHDRAWS from French Open with knee injury in major blow to organisers and Wimbledon place in doubt

NOVAK DJOKOVIC has PULLED OUT of the French Open.

And he now faces a race against time to be fit for both Wimbledon and the Olympics.

APNovak Djokovic has withdrawn from the French Open[/caption]

The Mega AgencyHe needed treatment and painkillers after slipping during his win on Monday[/caption]

The 24-time Grand Slam winner is the defending champion at Roland Garros.

But an MRI scan revealed Djokovic, 37, has suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee.

And the world No1 and top seed made the shock call to withdraw from the tournament ahead of his quarter-final with Casper Ruud.

The Norwegian No7 seed, a two-time runner-up, will have an extra day off before facing the winner of Alexander Zverev and Alex De Minaur for a spot in Sunday’s final.

A tweet from Roland Garros said: “Djokovic has withdrawn from Roland-Garros due to a right knee injury. Wishing Novak a speedy recovery.”

The Serbian star claims he “screwed up” his right knee slipping and sliding on Court Philippe-Chatrier during his last-16 win over Francisco Cerundolo on Monday.

Djokovic took painkillers and needed a medical time-out but played through the pain barrier to fight from 2-1 down to secure his five-set comeback victory over the Argentine – a record-breaking 370th Grand Slam singles win.

That win came after he finished at a ridiculous 3.06am in the early hours of Sunday morning, again battling back to beat Lorenzo Musetti in five gruelling sets.

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And the exit of arguably the biggest name in tennis will come as a major blow to French Open chiefs but they only have themselves to blame for this episode.

Rafael Nadal, the 14-time Roland Garros winner, was dumped out in round one by Alexander Zverev, whose trial over domestic abuse allegations began in Germany during the tournament.

However, Djokovic’s withdrawal guarantees a new winner in the men’s singles in the French Open.

Reigning major winners Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are both in the bottom half of the draw and will be hopeful of adding to their tallies.

Sinner beat Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets to reach the semis while Alcaraz faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in his quarter-final tonight.

In Djokovic’s half, Ruud wants to go one better than his final defeats in 2022 and 2023 – losing both in straight sets.

Zverev has reached three consecutive semis in Paris and knows victory over De Minaur will see him take on Ruud – a far less daunting prospect than Serbian winning machine Djokovic.

Also, Sinner will become the new world No1 for the first time on Monday when the rankings are updated.

Djokovic has less than four weeks to get ready for the first round of Wimbledon where he has been a seven-time winner.

What is a more plausible scenario is that he skips the grass swing and focuses fully on the Olympics, which are held at Roland Garros, where he desperately wants that singles gold medal.

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AFPThe MRI scan showed he has torn the meniscus in his right knee[/caption]

RexThe Serbian only has four weeks until the start of Wimbledon[/caption]