Novak Djokovic Injury: Is He Suffering From the Same Problem That Marred Roger Federer’s Career in 2016?

In the end, it wasn’t what Novak Djokovic would have liked. Despite putting on a courageous display, the Serb bowed out of the French Open in a saddening end to his title defense. Ahead of his French Open quarterfinal match against Casper Ruud, Djokovic pulled out of the tournament citing a knee injury. However, parallels were drawn with Roger Federer suffering a similar fate back in 2016.

Djokovic took to his official Instagram handle to announce his withdrawal from the clay-court Grand Slam tournament. Sharing a note via an Instagram story, the Serb wrote, “I am really sad to announce that I have to withdraw from Roland Garros. I played with my heart and gave my all in yesterday’s match and unfortunately, due to a medical meniscus tear in my right knee, my team and I had to make a tough decision after careful consideration and consultation. 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. See you soon.”

However, like Djokovic, Federer had suffered a similar fate in 2016. After the Swiss maestro’s Australian Open semifinal match against Djokovic in 2016, Federer felt some pain in his knee while drawing a bath for his twin daughters. Upon checking, Federer’s worst fears came true as he suffered a torn meniscus that required him to have the first surgery of his career.

Interestingly, it was the day after the Swiss maestro lost to his Serbian rival at the Australian Open semis.

Athletes would tell you that a torn meniscus is extremely common, but recovery time is different for everyone. Taylor Fritz had a surgery in 2021 and played and won matches at Wimbledon three weeks later. Federer had recovered by the time his favorite Grass Slam came along, but he withdrew from the US Open as his knee screamed for rest.

What of Djokovic now? It seems like he and his team are still reeling from this news, which came despite the Serb’s multiple warnings to the French Open organizers about slippery ground. When will he return to tennis? There’s no update yet. The surgery went well but every body recovers differently.

As for the retired Swiss player, that injury took out a chunk of time from Federer’s career, although the comeback was something remarkable. Later, during an interview, Federer explained how he came to know about his injury.

Roger Federer was left shell-shocked when coming to know about his injury

The Swiss maestro went on to lose his 2016 Australian Open semifinal match against Novak Djokovic. However, the worst was yet to come for the former World Number 1. Describing the events that led to him discovering about his knee injury, Federer spilled the details during an interview once. He revealed, “I just lost my semifinal match at the Australian Open and I woke up in the morning and I was tired, obviously because pressure fell off, the match was over.”

Further, he went on to add, “I was like okay let’s bath I am tired. So I go and opened the water and as I am turning and I heard a click in my knee and I go back and was like that was strange. I went to the zoo in the afternoon but then I was limping like I can’t believe. And I am like what’s happened and I go to the doctor, torn meniscus and I had to do surgery.”

Following his injury, Federer missed the French Open and the US Open that year but made a stunning comeback next year. In 2017, he won the Australian Open by defeating Rafael Nadal and claimed the Wimbledon title without dropping a set, overcoming Marin Čilić in the final. In 2018, Federer defended his Australian Open title, again defeating Čilić to win his 20th Grand Slam. He also reached the 2019 Wimbledon final, narrowly losing to Novak Djokovic, and the 2019 French Open semifinals, where he was beaten by Nadal.

On that note, It remains to be seen how many tournaments Djokovic will miss owing to his knee injury. But given the Serb’s strong mindset and unstoppable success, the tennis fraternity will be waiting for his striking comeback once he gets well.