"First culprit's aging": Novak Djokovic's knee injury flare-up blamed on no sleep at French Open and declining fitness, by compatriot Petar Popovic
Corentin Moutet's coach Petar Popovic believes Novak Djokovic's withdrawal from the 2024 French Open is because of aging. He also mentioned that the late-night finish against Lorenzo Musetti in the third round could also have been a factor.
The top seed's third-round clash against Musetti was supposed to begin at 8:20 pm local time on Saturday, June 2, but it was delayed to begin after 10:30 pm.
The over four-hour-long match finally concluded at 3:07 am, Sunday, with the pair exhausted after five sets. The Serb came back from a set deficit to win 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
On Monday evening, the top seed was on the court again facing Francisco Cerundolo. The fourth-round clash also lasted over four hours and went the distance.
Djokovic faced issues with his knee from the second set of the match but he continued to play and won 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
He underwent surgery after the match and found out he had suffered a medial meniscus tear in his right knee. He was advised to withdraw from the tournament.
Former Serbian player Popovic believes age is catching up to the 37-year-old.
"The first culprit for the injury is the aging... I said exactly a year ago that it could happen, a knee injury... Nole plays space tennis at that age, and at that age, it's not easy to recover... Federer also had a problem with the meniscus, those are the years," Popovic said in an interview with SportKlub.
Further, the Serbian coach also mentioned Djokovic's late-night finish against Musetti as a factor.
"...Especially the fact that he played two matches in five sets, which affected him the most, that he did not sleep, that is that he went to bed at six in the morning after the match with Musetti."
"Novak Djokovic was suffering..." - Ons Jabeur expressed concern for Serb's late-night finish
Ons Jabeur was on a good run in the 2024 French Open before she faced defeat against Coco Gauff in the quarterfinal on Tuesday, June 4. After the match, she expressed her disappointment regarding the scheduling of the tournament.
The Tunisian player was displeased with the lack of prime-time matches for women. Moreover, she mentioned how the poor scheduling affected Novak Djokovic.
"Playing that late for men after midnight is not a good thing. We saw yesterday how Novak was suffering with his knee. And this, because he couldn't really recover well? I think for all players, men, women, we deserve better than that," Jabeur said.