Novak Djokovic could not confirm if he will be able to return to the match court on Wednesday to play in the 2024 Roland Garros quarterfinal because of a knee injury.
Djokovic looked in a spot of bother in Monday's fourth-round dogfight against 23rd-seed Francisco Cerundolo after hurting his knee during the early stages of the match.
He complained about the state of the court to the officials, including the tournament supervisor, multiple times. Djokovic felt that the court was too slippery and that it "screwed his knee" to the extent he could not move as efficiently as he always does.
Because of that, he could not play to his strengths in the second and third sets and, to some extent, in the early part of the fourth. He requested that the trainer have a look at the injury and was given a leg rub multiple times and some painkillers to alleviate the injury.
Speaking after the match, Djokovic revealed that he felt relief after the painkillers "kicked in" and was able to turn the match around and win in five dramatic sets. The match lasted four hours and 40 minutes.
But it might be a pyrrhic victory in the sense that Djokovic's win over Cerundolo might come at the cost of him potentially withdrawing from the tournament if his knee pain persists and he can't play his best tennis in the quarterfinal against Casper Ruud.
"I have had some minor knee issue for few weeks, but no big deal. Then I slipped in 2nd 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 QF, we'll wait and see."
While Djokovic complained about the courts making his knee worse, he acknowledged that he carried the injury for weeks before the French Open. So, it will be an interesting development in the next few hours as we wait to see whether he will return to play on Wednesday.
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