Djokovic Fights Through Knee Pain To Reach French Open Quarter-Finals

Novak Djokovic revealed he was close to quitting against Francisco Cerundolo due to a knee injury before pushing through the pain to reach the French Open quarter-finals. The reigning champion, aiming for a record-breaking 25th major singles title, endured a second consecutive five-set match to secure his place in the last eight at Roland-Garros.

Djokovic completed his third-round match against Lorenzo Musetti after 3am on Sunday morning and spent over four-and-a-half hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier to overcome Cerundolo. The Serb appeared on the verge of an early exit when he required treatment for a knee problem in the second set, having dominated the first 6-1.

The injury impacted Djokovic significantly as he fell two sets to one behind before receiving medication. He rallied from 4-2 down in the fourth set to force a decider, which he controlled to secure a 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

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"For the last couple of weeks, I have had slight discomfort in my right knee, but I haven't had an injury that would concern me at all," Djokovic told reporters during his post-match press conference. "I was playing a few tournaments with it and had no issues until today. I actually felt great coming into the match—as good as I could under the circumstances—and played really well in the first set."

He continued, "Then, in the third game of the second set, I slipped—one of the many times that I slipped and fell today. That affected the knee. I started feeling the pain and asked for physio treatment and a medical timeout. It did disrupt me definitely in play."

Djokovic admitted that for two and a half sets, he didn't want to stay in rallies too long. "Every time he would make sudden drop shots or change directions, I would not feel comfortable running," he said. "At one point, I didn't know whether I should continue or not with what was happening."

After receiving medication following the third set, Djokovic managed to continue. "I don't know how I won," he confessed. "I don't know what will happen tomorrow or if I'll be able to step out on the court and play. I hope so. Let's see what happens."

Next up for Djokovic is a quarter-final meeting with two-time runner-up Casper Ruud, which will be a repeat of last year's final.