Novak Djokovic: Tennis great makes ‘end of an era’ claim and urges the Serb to prioritise Olympics

Tennis legend Mats Wilander has proclaimed that it is “starting to become the end of an era” in the men’s game after Novak Djokovic’s French Open injury blow.

The former world No 1 also urged Djokovic to target the Olympics over Wimbledon as he feels being ready for the Games is “way more important” for the 37-year-old.

Djokovic has undergone surgery after tearing the medial meniscus in his right knee during his fourth round victory against Francisco Cerundolo at Roland Garros on Monday.

The Serbian sustained the injury in the second set of his match with Cerundolo, which he won 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after four hours and 39 minutes.

The three-time French Open champion was set to play Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, but was forced to withdraw — bringing an end to his title defence.

Djokovic’s withdrawal also confirmed he will lose the world No 1 position to Jannik Sinner when the ATP Rankings update next week.

The injury casts doubt over Djokovic’s participation at the upcoming Wimbledon Championships and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Why Novak Djokovic could miss Wimbledon and the Olympics after French Open injury blow

Wilander, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, gave his reaction to the news Djokovic had undergone surgery.

“It’s starting to become the end of an era,” the Swede told Eurosport . “You watch Rafa [Nadal] play here and what he said afterwards, and he’s still keen to play more.

“We know Novak is keen to play for a couple more years. Hopefully, he can get back. Wimbledon is important, but the Olympics is way more important for Novak Djokovic. That’s what he has to get ready for.”

Alex Corretja, a two-time Roland Garros finalist and former world No 2, said: “I hope that he has a speedy recovery.

“Going into the grass-court season, the summer is going to be very important. I hope he’s only going to take some days to come back. We agree that having those back-to-back matches affected everything; his body, his knee.

“That slide that he did provoked it a little bit more. Now, there’s no time to blame anyone. It happens, it’s tennis. He needs to recover, and that’s the most important thing. I wish him the best of luck, always.”

Former world No 4 Tim Henman also gave his thoughts: “The narrative we’ve heard from Djokovic in other Grand Slams, we’ve seen in Australia a couple of times.

“He had the pulled stomach muscle that he talked about, kept playing and went on to win the tournament. He had a problem with his hamstring there and he kept playing.

“For me, I felt like this was precautionary chat. I very much expected him to bounce back as we’ve seen so many times.

“It came as a huge shock to me but then when you hear that there may be a tear in the meniscus – that’s a serious injury, so it’s hugely disappointing for Djokovic.”

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