Djokovic withdraws from French Open due to knee injury

Defending champion Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the French Open due to a knee injury.

The world number one suffered the injury to his right knee during his five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo on Monday.

Djokovic revealed after the match that he would undergo a scan on Tuesday to determine whether he would be able to continue at the tournament.

The MRI scan has subsequently shown the 37-year-old tore the medial meniscus in his right knee, forcing him out of the grand slam.

Roland Garros organisers said: “Due to a torn medial meniscus in his right knee (discovered during an MRI scan performed today), Novak Djokovic, who was supposed to play Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals tomorrow, has been forced to withdraw from the Roland-Garros tournament.”

Norwegian seventh seed Ruud will therefore progress straight to the semi-finals.

Djokovic’s withdrawal was good news for Italian Jannik Sinner (pictured above), who became world number one without knowing it as he reached the semi-finals of the French Open for the first time.

The 22-year-old, who is the first man from Italy to top the rankings, sank Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 6-4 7-6 (3).

“First of all it’s every player’s dream to be number one in the world,” he said.

“But in the other way to see Novak retiring for everyone is disappointing, so I wish him a speedy recovery.

“My performance was very solid, especially the first two sets. I’m very happy how I reacted later and happy to be in the semis.

“It’s going to be a huge pleasure to step once again on this court.”

Carlos Alcaraz halted a mid-match fightback by ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to secure a 6-3 7-6(3) 6-4 win and set up a blockbuster semi-final with Sinner.

The third seed, who came into the contest with a 5-0 record over Tsitsipas, caused all kinds of problems for his Greek opponent with high kick serves to the backhand and won the first set in 33 minutes.

The rematch of last year’s quarter-final looked set for the same result on Court Philippe Chatrier as Alcaraz broke and then held to go up 3-0 as Tsitsipas did not help his cause with an error-prone display early in the second set.

Tsitsipas worked the crowd after hitting a stinging forehand when down 4-2 and looked rejuvenated as he finally solved the puzzle with a break back before drawing level, but Alcaraz raised his game in the tiebreak to double his advantage.

A frustrated Tsitsipas repeatedly complained about Alcaraz’s delayed grunts and nearly struck him with an overhead smash in a feisty third set, but his Spanish opponent ran away with the match to reach his Roland Garros second-semi-final.