"What a pity" - Casper Ruud, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi's ex-coach & tennis world empathize with Novak Djokovic after French Open withdrawal

Novak Djokovic pulled out of the 2024 French Open, ahead of his quarterfinal encounter against Casper Ruud. The Serb suffered a knee injury during his fourth-round match against Francisco Cerundolo.

The three-time French Open champion took to Instagram to announce his withdrawal, citing a medial meniscus tear in his right knee as the reason. He further added that after careful consideration, he has decided to withdraw. The Serb wished the players well and thanked the fans.

"I am really sad to announce that I have to withdraw from #rolandgarros. I played with my heart and gave my all in yesterday’s match and unfortunately, due to a medial meniscus tear in my right knee, my team and I had to make a tough decision after careful consideration and consultation. I wish the best of luck to the players competing this week and sincerely thank the incredible fans for all of the love and continued support. See you soon. With love and gratitude, Nole," he wrote.

His quarterfinal opponent Casper Ruud sent in his good wishes and said that he hoped to see him healthy in time for the grass season.

"Speedy recovery Nole. Hope to see you back and healthy on the grass," Casper Ruud wrote.

Boris Becker took to Instagram and wrote:

"Sad news from Paris."

Source- Boris Becker's Instagram handle

Former Australian player Paul McNamee lauded the Serb for his incredible comeback but lamented the injury that led him to withdraw from the French Open.

"What a pity that Novak Djokovic, who couldn’t have dug deeper, needs to withdraw from @rolandgarros… he can be proud he left nothing on the table in his quest, and deserves our unequivocal admiration," Paul McNamee wrote.

Andre Agassi's ex-coach was surprised to hear the news of the defending champion pulling out. He wrote:

"Wow just heard the Djoker news on injury pull out."

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Novak Djokovic was unsure of playing the quarterfinals after an astounding fourth-round win

Novak Djokovic at the 2024 French Open

Novak Djokovic sounded alarm about the knee injury in the post-match press conference after his fourth-round win at the 2024 French Open. The Serb said that he was not sure about playing the next match. He further added that he had some discomfort in the knee but could not point out any sort of injury.

"I do not know what will happen, tomorrow or after tomorrow, if I will be able to step out on court and play, but I hope so. Let's see what happens. For the last couple of weeks, I had some discomfort (I would call that way) in the right knee but I haven't had an injury that would be concerning me at all," he said.

Djokovic said that he played a few tournaments without any discomfort but he started to feel pain after he slipped during the fourth-round match.

"I was playing a few tournaments with it and had no issues until today. In the third game of the second set, I slipped, one of the many times that I slipped and fell, that affected the knee. I started feeling the pain," he added.

Novak Djokovic lost the World No.1 spot to Jannik Sinner as a result of the withdrawal.