PARIS (AP) — It would be foolish to count Novak Djokovic out of any match, no matter how dire the circumstances or how steep the deficit. He's shown that, over and over again, as recently as his last two wins at Roland Garros.
Similarly, it would be a mistake to write off Djokovic right now, after a torn meniscus in his right knee forced him to withdraw from the clay-court tournament where he was the defending champion—and where he was supposed to play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
And, ultimately, it would not make much sense at all to begin pondering whether this could presage the real and true end of seeing competitive tennis from any of the so-called Big Three, after Djokovic joined contemporaries and rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to claim title after title—66 Grand Slam trophies combined—and spend week after week at No. 1 in the ATP rankings.
Year after year, folks wondered when it would unravel for all of them. Because, of course, it had to, either due to declining skills or accumulating injuries or, simply, age. Federer was the first to say goodbye, playing his last match at Wimbledon a month shy of age 40 in 2021—a quarterfinal loss to Hubert Hurkacz—and marking his retirement 15 months later with a farewell match at the Laver Cup. Nadal, 38 as of Monday, dealt with hip and abdominal problems over the past one-and-a-half years, including surgery, and is currently sitting on the only clay-court losing streak of his entire career, with a setback at the Italian Open last month—to Hurkacz—followed by a first-round exit at Roland Garros last week. His future is unclear, although he sounded like someone who wants to try to keep competing.
As for Djokovic? First of all, it's impossible to know exactly how long he will be sidelined after getting hurt during a fourth-round victory against No. 23 Francisco Cerundolo on Monday that lasted five sets spread across more than four-and-a-half hours. It was his second consecutive five-setter, with his total time on court across the two exceeding nine hours, and he trailed 2-1 in sets on both occasions.
