Tennis star Novak Djokovic has been forced to withdraw from the French Open after sustaining a right knee injury in his fourth-round win, relinquishing his No. 1 ranking in the process.
Djokovic was set to face Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals. The move means the French Open will have a new champion this season, as Djokovic will not be defending his title.
"I wish the best of luck to the players competing this week and sincerely thank the incredible fans for all of the love and continued support," he said in a statement.
Djokovic addressed what is reportedly a torn meniscus following his five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo.
"I started feeling the pain and asked for the physio treatment and the medical timeout and tried to take care of it. It did disrupt me definitely in play," Djokovic told reporters Monday evening. "For two sets, two sets and a half, I didn't want to stay in the rally too long. Every time he would make sudden drop shots or change directions, I would not be feeling comfortable to do the running.
"At one point I didn't know, to be honest, whether I should continue or not with what's happening. I got the medications, and then after the third set was done, I asked for more medications, and I got them.
"That was the maximum dose that kicked in, as I heard now from a doctor after 30 to 45 minutes, which was just about the time kind of end of the fourth when things started to really improve for me. I started to feel less limitations in my movement."
