Djokovic’s Great Gamble: What's next for injured Nole?

Novak Djokovic will have plenty to think about in the coming days, as he plots his recovery, recuperation and return from a knee injury sustained in the course of yet another signature, marathon comeback—this time, Monday’s credulity-straining fourth-round triumph over Francisco Cerundolo at Roland Garros.

One of the topics up for discussion will surely be his decision to take the maximum amount of pain-killing medication that the official tournament doctor was willing to provide in order to keep Djokovic’s hopes alive in a match that was slipping away, quickly.

That choice has some startling implications, but they were largely ignored as everyone heaped lavish praise on Djokovic in the wake of his great fight-back. When the tournament announced on Tuesday morning that Djokovic had withdrawn from the event due to a “torn medial meniscus of his right knee,” the news triggered lamentations and glowing tributes to Djokovic’s fighting spirit. But few—if any—of the usual suspects addressed the elephant in the room.

Did Djokovic and the official tournament caregivers make a mistake in leaning heavily on medication to get him through the match?

The way Djokovic related the events that shaped his win to the press made it clear that it was medication that enabled his transformation from a hobbled, struggling defending champion into something like a superhero, lacking only a trademark “D” on his chest.

“Basically the whole fifth set [I] was almost without any pain,” he said. “I'm glad that I was able to play without feeling that pain that I felt for two-and-a-half sets.”

But at what cost? This injury puts Djokovic’s immediate future, perhaps even the rest of his career, in jeopardy. Djokovic played a valiant match, that’s indisputable. But by the following morning, continuing to play instead of issuing Cerundolo a default looks like an exercise of poor judgment, perhaps even hubris by a paragon of the “my body is my temple” school. It’s understandable: Djokovic is 37 years old but still ranked No. 1 (a position Jannik Sinner will take over come Monday).

Hearken back for a moment to the beginning of Djokovic’s great drive to surpass rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam record book. Those efforts were boosted when Federer suffered a very similar injury in 2016. Federer would miss three of the ensuing five majors, and would add only three more to his final tally (20).

Federer hurt his knee in benign fashion, while drawing bathwater for his kids in Melbourne, Australia. Djokovic, by contrast, sustained his in tennis combat and played on with, he said, “less limitations in my movement.” So nobody can say at this point how much more serious the injury might be because Djokovic chose to soldier on.

Djokovic’s decision is puzzling on a number of levels, the most immediate being what his injury bodes for Wimbledon. The 24-time major champ has been on a roll there, sweeping four of the last five singles titles in London. And then there’s the Olympic Games, which commence in Paris (with the tennis event at Roland Garros) on July 26.

For most of the world, winning an Olympic gold medal is the ultimate athletic achievement. As a Serbian national hero, Djokovic has claimed just one medal, a bronze. He’s been burning to bag a gold, and this shaped up as his last chance. Now, who knows?

This has been a very difficult year for Djokovic. He hasn’t won a title since the end of 2023, and since then he’s run hot-and-cold—even in individual matches, never mind tournaments. Some of that certainly is because of his age and focused exclusively on major events.

While catastrophic, Djokovic’s failure in Paris was not completely unexpected. He admitted that for the last few weeks he’s experienced mild discomfort in his knee. But, he said, “I haven't had an injury that would be concerning me at all.”

The holding pattern ended quickly early in the second set when Djokovic slipped and lost his footing on the unstable clay. He clutched his knee and signaled his distress to his guest box with hand gestures. He received treatment on the court, and ingested some anti-inflammatories and, presumably, pain killers.

“I got medications, and then after the third set was done, I asked for more medications, and I got them,” Djokovic explained. The doctor provided the unspecified drugs with a warning that he would not give Djokovic any more. The defending champion was maxxed out.

It took about 45 minutes for the second round of drugs to kick in, by which time Djokovic was not just back in contention, he was soaring.

After acknowledging that the medications did their job, keeping him pain free and capable of sustaining a high level, he expressed the obvious concern in the scenario: “Yeah, you never know what will happen tomorrow.”

Any hopes Djokovic entertained for a positive diagnosis went unrealized when morning came, with the meds worn off and the results of the MRI in hand. The ultimately futile win seemed yet another demonstration of Djokovic's nearly bionic physical qualities. But it may end up as a cautionary tale about a man who has always listened to his body, until his passion for conquest betrayed it.