John McEnroe suggests Novak Djokovic's French Open withdrawal was preventable

Former world number one John McEnroe believes that Serbia’s Novak Djokovic’s injury during the French Open was due to poor scheduling.

The 36-year-old is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

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Djokovic is having a rough season. He has yet to play in a final. That streak continued as he had to withdraw from the ongoing French Open before starting the quarterfinal against Norway’s Casper Ruud.

Former world number one McEnroe, now a famous commentator, was recently quoted in a report blaming the Roland Garros authorities for the injury the Belgrade-born star suffered.

"Putting Djokovic, 37, on the court at 10:30 PM [against Musetti in the third round], without knowing how long his match would last, was a huge mistake on the part of the organization,” he said. “The weather was very bad, and they were in a difficult situation. I understand that they wanted to catch up, but there were other solutions to finish the other match (Bergs vs Dimitrov).”

Novak Djokovic withdrew from the French Open just before the start of the quarterfinal. 

Before leaving the competition, Djokovic played back-to-back five-setters. The Serbian tennis star first defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the third round of the mega-event with a score of 7-5, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.

He then beat Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in the fourth round with a score of 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

After the announcement, Djokovic is also set to lose the top spot in the ATP rankings to Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The Italian tennis star will officially take over when the rankings are updated after the end of the French Open.

Sinner is also participating in the French Open, where he has cemented his place in the semifinals. He will face the world number three, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.