Tennis: Champion Michael Venus in doubt for French Open

Michael Venus (right) and Raven Klaasen. Photo / Photosport

Michael Venus has opened up on the ankle injury that threatens his participation at next month's French tennis Open.

The 2017 Roland Garros doubles champion is in a moon boot at his London home after rupturing ligaments in his left foot during his first round match at the ATP tournament in Marrakech last week.

"It was a good opportunity to go to Marrakech and get a couple of matches on the clay before Monte Carlo. But unfortunately, in the first match I went to slide for the ball and there was no clay on that patch and my foot got stuck and over I went on it," Venus said.

He returned home to London immediately for treatment and had booked a flight to this week's Monte Carlo Masters when the doctor gave him the bad news.

"I had booked my flight to leave Friday morning from London but the doctor called me on Thursday afternoon to give me the news to say I needed a moon boot. So my first call was to Raven (Klaasen) and he had just boarded his flight from South Africa to fly to Monte Carlo. It wasn't easy for him but he managed to find a partner for the Masters."

The doctors are loathed to put a time frame for his recovery, but typically an ankle ligament injury takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks to come right. The French Open starts in less than six weeks.

"I have completely torn my ligaments and they are not giving me too much as they know potentially I might try to push the boundary a little bit. But I am kind of going through the treatment and they said let's keep assessing it and we will see how it progresses," Venus said.

Venus knows he could miss the entire clay court swing but retains hope he could be ready for Paris where he achieved his greatest success with American Ryan Harrison in 2017, becoming a grand slam champion for the first time.

"I will just follow the advice of the doctors. I would love to be playing there but time will tell," Venus said. "They say if I do try and push things and make things worth I could end up with surgery and six months off. So it's about sensible and listening to my body at the same time."

The Kiwi number one has ranking points to defend having made the quarter-finals at this week's Monte Carlo Masters and next month's Madrid Masters with Klaasen last year. However the world number 14 is keeping positive.

"If I can get back and be healthy and have a few deep runs here and there, things can change pretty quickly."