Marin Cilic joins Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios in withdrawing from French Open

• Tennis News
• Rafael Nadal

2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic has joined Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios in withdrawing from the French Open. Cilic, 34, won't be making his 17th French Open main draw appearance in January. Cilic, a former world No 3, had knee surgery in January.

Since then, Cilic has been sidelined. Earlier this week, Kyrgios pulled out of the French Open. Then on Thursday, Nadal also announced he would not be competing at Roland Garros this year. Not having the likes of Cilic, Nadal and Kyrgios is certainly a blow for the French Open organizers ahead of the start of the tournament.

Roland Garros update:
OUT: Cilic
IN: Fognini
Next: Kovacevic — Entry List Updates (@EntryLists) May 20, 2023

Cilic joins Nadal, Kyrgios in withdrawing from the French Open

Cilic kicked off his 2023 season in the first week of the season in Pune.

In Pune, Cilic defeated Roberto Carballes Baena in his opener before giving a walkover to Tallon Griekspoor in his round-of-16 match due to a knee issue. A couple of days later, Cilic announced his Australian Open withdrawal.

"Not a great start to 2023 and few tough days in Melbourne. Devastated I can't play this year at @AustralianOpen but health comes first. See you next year Melbourne," Cilic announced on Twitter just a few days before the start of the Australian Open.

After being forced to withdraw from the Australian Open, Cilic decided to surgically address his knee injury. "Few challenging weeks to start 2023. After consulting with various specialists, I made the difficult decision to undergo knee surgery as it seemed the best option for a long term fix to the injury.

Thankfully, the procedure went as well as we could have hoped," Cilic announced on Twitter on January 20th. Now that Cilic is officially set to miss the entire clay season, the Croatian will probably turn his focus on making a comeback during the upcoming grass season. Throughout his career, Cilic has loved playing on grass as it's surface where he has had success.