Serbian Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the French Open tennis tournament due to a right knee injury, the organizing committee of the Roland-Garros tournament announced on the X platform on Tuesday.
“We wish him a speedy recovery,” added the organizing committee in its message, accompanied by a photo of Djokovic looking up at the sky.
The day before, Djokovic appeared bothered by his right knee, as he erased a deficit of a set and a break en route to a 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5 victory and 6-3 in the fourth round against the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo.
The “Djoker” then obtained his 370e career victory in Grand Slam tournaments.
The reigning champion at Roland-Garros had at the same time broken the tie which persisted with Roger Federer for the greatest number of Grand Slam victories – and also for the number of participations in the quarter-finals of a major tournament by a tennis player, with a 59e presence in career.
The victory of the Serbian, holder of 24 career Grand Slam titles, after four and a half hours of play, however, proved very costly.
In addition to having to withdraw, Djokovic will cede first place in the ATP world rankings to Italian Jannik Sinner. And his departure means that the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who was to face him on Wednesday in the quarter-finals, will reach the final four on the men’s side at Roland Garros.
On the other hand, Jannik Sinner, the Australian Open champion, qualified for his first semi-final at Roland Garros on Tuesday, easily beating 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3 ) the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (10e global).
In the other duel on display at the end of the program, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas will face the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, third seed.
A Gauff-Swiatek shock among the ladies
Furthermore, Coco Gauff and reigning champion Iga Swiatek will face each other in the semi-finals at Roland Garros after each triumphing on Tuesday.
Third seed Coco Gauff came from behind to defeat Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and reach the semi-finals of a third consecutive Grand Slam tournament.
For her part, Swiatek manhandled Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2 to extend her winning streak to 19, as she covets a third title in a row in Paris and a fourth in five years.
Gauff won her first major title at the US Open last September, then advanced to the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January.
The 20-year-old American is the third seed at Roland Garros, where she was runner-up to Swiatek in 2022.
Overall, Swiatek has won 10 of his 11 career matches against Gauff, including a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the clay-court semifinals en route to winning the Italian Open title. .
Furthermore, after beating Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0 in the fourth round, Swiatek won the first seven games against Vondrousova.
But make no mistake: Vondrousova is no celery stalk. In addition to being a Grand Slam champion, she was a finalist at the French Open in 2019, won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and is currently ranked sixth in the world.
However, she was never up to par against Swiatek, who totaled 25 winners and made only 10 unforced errors. Additionally, Swiatek, who is 23, only faced one break point — and, obviously, she saved it.
In the other match on Tuesday morning, the crowd gathered in the stands of the main stadium cheered loudly at times for Jabeur, and Gauff did not play bad tennis in the first set. The Tunisian, seeded eighth, played flawlessly, winning 17 of 18 points with her first ball, not facing a single break point and dominating her opponent 12-5 in terms of winning shots.
” She [Jabeur] played very well throughout the match. She hit some big winning shots, which is unusual for me,” Gauff said. So I simply tried to be aggressive at the end of the match. »
After firing an ace at 184 km/h to seal the outcome of the round, Jabeur nodded with conviction.
“She’s tough and she’s popular on the circuit. It was easy to see by the crowd’s reaction today — I know you wanted her to win. Honestly, every time she competes against someone else, I cheer for her, too,” Gauff said.
“Even though you were cheering for Ons, I had fun, even after I lost the first set, while you were singing while I was in the bathroom,” Gauff said of her visit to the locker room after the first sleeve. I was like, “This is really nice, whether I win or lose.” It was. »
Gauff then came out of her torpor after that, raising her level of play and being much more aggressive. She hit 16 winners in the last two sets, while stealing the Tunisian’s serve four times.
“I know people like me here in Paris. Believe me, I’m aware of it, said the American, who won the junior title at the French Open at the age of 14. I really appreciate it, and I hope you will encourage me to reach the next round. »
With Agence France-Presse