There will be a new champion in the men's singles draw at Roland Garros in 2024 after defending champion Novak Djokovic pulled out of the French Open with a knee injury on Tuesday, the tournament announced.

“Djokovic has withdrawn from Roland-Garros due to a right knee injury,” wrote the tourney's official X account. “Wishing Novak a speedy recovery.”

The official diagnosis is a torn medical meniscus in the right knee, which was found during an MRI a day after the 24-time Grand Slam champion came from behind to defeat world No. 23 Francisco Cerundolo in a five-set, four-and-a-half hour thriller in the Round of 16.

It's a brutal development for the Serbian, who was set to play Casper Ruud on Wednesday in a rematch of the 2023 final. Along with his title defense, Djokovic will relinquish the world No. 1 ranking on Monday to Jannik Sinner, who is the first player into the semis after defeating Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday.

Ruud will play either No. 4 Sasha Zverev or No. 11 Alex de Minaur in the semis.

For Djokovic, the question immediately becomes the severity of the injury. The knee had been bothering him for weeks before Roland Garros, and seemed to be re-aggravated during Monday's match. He took a medical timeout early in the second set, and took “the maximum dose of pills allowed” to dull the pain and allow him to compete.

Despite the injury, Djokovic's Round of 16 win was thrilling

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates winning his match against Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina on day nine of Roland Garros at Stade Roland Garros.
Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Although it's a devastating result for both Djokovic and tennis fans in general, he again proved why he's one of the greatest to ever pick up a tennis raquet. It looked at multiple times like he was down and out, especially trailing in the fourth set.

But even at 37-years-old, Djokovic found a way to battle back and win the match — even while battling through the ailment.

“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow — or after tomorrow, if I’ll be able to step out on the court and play,” Djokovic said after beating Cerundolo. “You know, I hope so. Let’s see what happens.”

The French Open is now a wide-open field, but Djokovic will already be looking ahead to his potential availability for Wimbledon. The tournament starts in under a month. He lost in the final to Carlos Alcaraz in 2023, after winning the last four iterations of the tournament.

Overall, it's been a disappointing 2024 for Djokovic, who still hasn't reached the finals of any tournament over five months in and has an 18-6 record. Although he passed Roger Federer with his 370th Grand Slam victory — the most in tennis history — it's still a discouraging development.

“I mean, today I injured myself. Yes, I survived. I won the match. Great. But will I be able to play next one?” he said at Monday's post-match press conference. “I don’t know. I don’t know the severity of the injury. But could have this injury be prevented? Possibly, if there was just a little bit more of a frequent care of the court during the set.”

Djokovic was vocal about his unhappiness with the courts throughout the tournament. More details regarding the severity of the injury should become available in the coming days, and it'll be intriguing to see if the Serbian is ready for the grass court season.