Roland Garros: Novak Djokovic withdraws, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek ready for semi-final rematch

Novak Djokovic’s quest to win all four majors in one year will have to wait until 2025. Roland Garros announced on Tuesday that the defending champion had withdrawn from the clay-court Grand Slam due to a right knee injury.

No further details on the knee injury have been announced. It’s unclear when it happened, but he struggled to deal with it during Monday’s epic five-set battle against Francisco Cerundolo. The match lasted 4 hours and 39 minutes and Djokovic required treatment on court at least once.

Djokovic was scheduled to face No. 7 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Ruud will be awarded a forfeit (but not a win) and automatically advanced to the semi-finals, where he will face either Alexander Zverev or Alex de Minaur, who are scheduled to play on Wednesday.

Withdrawing from Roland Garros means Djokovic will lose the top spot in the ATP rankings. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner, who just beat Grigor Dimitrov to advance to the semifinals, is expected to become the next No. 1 regardless of how he finishes at Roland Garros.

Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff set for 2023 finals rematch

Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff continue to meet at Roland-Garros. A year after facing each other in the final at Roland Garros, Swiatek, the world number 1, and Gauff, the world number 3, will face each other in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Swiatek, clay court virtuoso, is on another radiator at Roland Garros. So far, she’s been a wrecking ball, demolishing all but one of her opponents in straight sets. (That one was Naomi Osaka, who forced a third set against Swiatek in the second round before bowing out.) She beat Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round, winning 6-0, 6-0, then won a third straight match 6-0. against Marketa Vondrousova on Tuesday. It took Vondrousova over 35 minutes to win her first match against Swiatek, and she was only able to win one more before Iga completely overwhelmed her.

It will be a lot for Gauff to handle, but she knows what to expect against Swiatek. Her match against Iga in the 2023 final was Gauff’s first-ever Grand Slam final, and a year on has only made her more mature and ready to try again. Gauff had a little more trouble against Ons Jabeur in his quarter-final match on Tuesday. She failed to find the right shots against the world number 1 in the first set, but she eventually took the upper hand 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Alcaraz dominates Tsitsipas in straight sets and will face Sinner in the semi-final

In a top-10 quarterfinal match, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz defeated No. 9 Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. The win sets the stage for a top-three clash in the semifinals where Alcaraz will face second-place Sinner.

Alcaraz reached the semi-final for the second time in his career. Djokovic beat then number one Alcaraz in four sets in the 2023 semi-final en route to winning his third French Open title. Double major champion (US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023), Alcaraz will seek for the first time to qualify for the Roland-Garros final.

Sinner is also looking to qualify for her first French Open final. He earned his first career Grand Slam victory with a comeback victory over Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open in January.