Surgeon just dumped ice-cold water on Novak Djokovic's quick return

A year that already had not started the way Novak Djokovic expected was made worse after he tore his meniscus at the French Open. Early in his fourth-round match against Francisco Cerundolo, Djokovic slipped, but he kept playing. Somehow with an injured knee, he managed to keep playing five sets before winning the match.

Djokovic wisely withdrew from Roland Garros before his quarterfinal face-off against Casper Ruud. The Serb then had surgery to repair the knee issue a couple of days after the match with Cerundolo.

A torn meniscus is not as bad as a torn ACL or MCL. Those would keep a tennis player out for months. The recovery time for a torn meniscus varies but normally ranges between three to eight weeks. That is for someone who does not play a sport that is already hard on the joints. Djokovic might be able to play sooner rather than later, but in what form?

Novak Djokovic's surgeon says it is unlikely the Serb will play at Wimbledon

If he has a quick recovery - three weeks - that would put him back around the beginning of Wimbledon. Grass may be an easier surface for him to first play on following surgery as well. One can slide a bit more and the ground is not as hard as a surface such as the US Open or other hard-court tournaments in the United States.

In a recent interview with L'Equipe, the surgeon who performed the knee surgery on Djokovic, Antoana Geromete, might have ended any speculation that the tennis great would be ready for Wimbledon. Geromete said, "By gradually increasing the load, we will see if it remains ‘dry’ and without swelling or pain...it is impossible to predict the state in which (the knee) will be in a week, two, and so on. But to be at 100 percent in three weeks, it really seems difficult to achieve."

In other words, what many tennis fans likely assumed to be the case will become truth: Novak Djokovic is very unlikely to play at Wimbledon. The way 2024 started for the Serb, both in poorer form and now with health issues, one might wonder how much longer Djokovic will play at all. Let's hope we have not seen the last of Djokovic playing a Grand Slam event.

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