Djokovic exits French Open with serious knee injury, will lose No. 1 ranking
Fernandez eliminated from doubles; Gauff draws defending champ Swiatek in semis
Novak Djokovic pulled out of the the French Open with an injured knee on Tuesday, an abrupt end to his title defence and to his current stay at No. 1 in the rankings.
The tournament announced the news, saying Djokovic has a torn medial meniscus in his right knee. The extent of the injury was found during an MRI exam a day after Djokovic was hurt during a fourth-round victory against No. 23 Francisco Cerundolo that lasted five sets spread across more than 4 1/2 hours.
"I am really sad to announce that I have to withdraw from .rolandgarros," Djokovic wrote in an Instagram post. "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."
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was supposed to face two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Instead, Ruud gets a walkover into the semifinals, where he will face No. 4 Alexander Zverev or No. 11 Alex de Minaur.
With Djokovic, the owner of three French Open titles, gone from the bracket, and Rafael Nadal — owner of a record 14 — eliminated in the first round, someone will be holding the French Open men's trophy for the first time on Sunday.
The group of remaining contenders includes current No. 2 Jannik Sinner, a 22-year-old Italian who defeated No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday to reach the semifinals and now is assured of replacing Djokovic atop the ATP rankings next week.
Sinner won the Australian Open in January and is the first man from his country to reach No. 1.
His match against Dimitrov was in progress when news of Djokovic's withdrawal spread. So Sinner had no idea until he was asked about it during an on-court interview after his win.
Sinner vs. Alcaraz in semifinals
"Seeing Novak [injured] is, for everyone, disappointing," Sinner said, "so I wish him a speedy recovery."
And as for his newfound status?
"It means a lot to me, for sure," said Sinner, who will renew his exciting rivalry with No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz in Friday's semifinals.
Alcaraz reached the final four in Paris for the second year in a row — he cramped up and lost to Djokovic in 2023 — by defeating No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Tuesday night.
Sinner and Alcaraz have played eight times, splitting them 4-4. They have played twice at majors, splitting those 1-1.
"Well, it's a really difficult challenge. I'm not going to lie. Right now, he's the best player in the world — or the player who is playing the best tennis right now," Alcaraz said. "It is the match that everybody wants to watch."
Amid a season in which he is only 18-6 and has not reached a final at any tournament, let alone won one, he needed to get back to the title match in Paris to retain his hold atop the ATP rankings. With the withdrawal, Djokovic now will be replaced by current No. 2 Jannik Sinner, an Italian who was playing No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Monday's victory was his 370th in Grand Slam play, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the most in tennis history, but it was costly. And Djokovic said Monday he thought it could have been prevented if the clay inside Court Philippe Chatrier had been cared for better.
Canadian, partner out in 3rd round
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand have been eliminated from women's doubles competition at the French Open.
The ninth seeds lost their third-round match 6-1, 6-4 to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania on Tuesday.
Kostyuk and Ruse took control of the match early, going up 5-0 in the first set after converting two break points.
Fernandez and Routliffe picked up an early break in the second set and led 3-0 before their opponents won the next five games.
Kostyuk and Ruse will face Russian duo Mirra Andreeva and Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals.
The loss by Fernandez and Routliffe means there are no Canadians remaining in the singles and doubles draws.
Fernandez and American partner Taylor Townsend advanced to the women's doubles final at Roland Garros last year before losing to Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh and China's Xinyu Wang.
Routliffe, who formerly represented Canada, won the U.S. Open title last year in a partnership with Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski, who missed this year's clay-court season with an injury.
Swiatek beat Gauff in 2022 final in Paris
On the women's side, Coco Gauff and defending champion Iga Swiatek will meet in the French Open semifinals after victories Tuesday.
No. 3 seed Gauff came back to defeat Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final four at a third consecutive Grand Slam tournament. No. 1 Swiatek followed in Court Philippe Chatrier with a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova to stretch her Roland Garros winning streak to 19 matches as she seeks a third trophy in a row in Paris and fourth in five years.
Gauff won her first major title at the U.S. Open in September, then made it to the semifinals at the Australian Open in January. The 20-year-old American was the runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open in 2022.
WATCH | Swiatek beats Gauff in straight sets for 2022 French Open title:
"It's good to just keep going and not think about this match as something huge, just another match, to not put too much baggage on your shoulders," Swiatek said. "But I guess Coco is not easy. She really likes playing on clay, especially here. I'll just focus on myself and I'll prepare tactically and we'll see."
Overall, Swiatek has won 10 of 11 meetings against Gauff, including a 6-4, 6-3 semifinal win on clay last month en route to the Italian Open title.
Other than a tough three-set triumph over four-time major champion Naomi Osaka in the second round last week, Swiatek has been at her dominant best in this French Open, showing why she has led the WTA rankings nearly every week since April 2022 and is a popular pick to leave with another title.
Take away the 17 games Osaka managed, and Swiatek has dropped a total of only 11 games in her other four matches so far.
Swiatek followed up her 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round by grabbing the initial seven games against Vondrousova.
"I felt," Swiatek said, "like I was in the zone."
And make no mistake: Vondrousova is no slouch. In addition to being a Grand Slam champion, she was a finalist at Roland Garros in 2019, won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics and is currently ranked No. 6.
'Everything worked'
But she never stood a chance against Swiatek, who compiled 25 winners to just 10 unforced errors. Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland, faced just one break point — and, naturally, she saved it.
"Everything worked. I feel like I've been serving better than in previous rounds, so that gave me an extra boost of confidence," Swiatek said. "I could just play my game and really go with my tactics and not really overthink anything."
Jabeur's mix of speeds and spins gave Gauff fits at times. And as well-known as Gauff is for her ability to cover the court and play defence, Jabeur managed to keep coming up with winners, finishing with 30 in all.
"She was playing really well the whole match. She was hitting a lot of winners on me, which is something I'm not used to against anybody," Gauff said. "So today I was just trying to just be aggressive toward the end."
Gauff pulled away to a 5-2 lead in the last set, then needed a trio of match points to close things out, acknowledging afterward that maybe she grew a little tight down the stretch. In the last game, Gauff needed to save a break point, before Jabeur dismissed one match point with a disguised drop shot that earned a roar from the stands. The 29-year-old Tunisian responded by putting her right index finger to her ear.
But on Gauff's next opportunity to seal the victory, Jabeur badly flubbed an overhead. Gauff smiled, then raised her arms and yelled.
"My favourite thing about Coco is her fighting spirit. I think she's playing, like, great tennis right now, but I saw her playing better before," Jabeur said. "Obviously she's such a fighter. She always tries to find ways. She's really smart on the court."
With the crowd at the main stadium loudly supporting Jabeur at times, Gauff did not play badly in the opening set. But No. 8 seed Jabeur, a three-time major finalist, was superb, winning 17 of 18 first-serve points, never facing a single break point and accumulating a 12-5 edge in total winners.
When she delivered an ace at 184 kilometres per hour to end the set, Jabeur nodded repeatedly.
"She's a tough opponent and she's well-loved on tour," Gauff said. "I could tell by the crowd today — I know you guys wanted her to win. Honestly, whenever she's not playing [me], I cheer for her, too."
Gauff got going after that, raising her level and trying to gain the upper hand during lengthier exchanges. She put in 16 winners over the last two sets, while breaking serve four times.
"I know I have a lot of love here in Paris. Trust me, I know," said Gauff, who won the French Open junior title at age 14. "So I really appreciate it, and hopefully you guys can help me make it through the next round."
With files from The Canadian Press
