37-year-old Serbian Tennis player, Novak Djokovic retired due to injury after losing the first set to Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Friday. He had his upper left leg heavily taped after injuring it in Tuesday’s quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz. This loss hit Djovic hard as he was aiming for a legendary record of 25 major titles.
Djokovic lunged for a drop-shot towards the end of the first set against Alcaraz and immediately grimaced to his box. Djokovic had an injury timeout to have his left leg wrapped late in the first set, which he lost 4-6. He stormed back to take the next three sets: 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Novak Djokovic played an 80-minute set, after Zverev scored a set point Djokovic retired. This is because he had been playing through a muscle tear. “I did everything I possibly could do to manage the muscle tear that I had. Towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much to handle for me.” said Djokovic. Against Zverev, Djokovic was seen struggling to match his opponent. His upper left leg was heavily wrapped. As Djokovic approached Zverev and shook his hand, the audience erupted in boos.
Former Australian player John Millman was horrified at the people in Melbourne Park, saying the crowd’s reaction was a “total lack of respect” along with a comment virtually on X: “Novak getting booed off is a disgrace. Classless.” Novak Djokovic’s opposition, Zverev, stood up for Djokovic saying, “Please guys, don’t boo when a player is injured. I know everyone paid for tickets and wants to see a five-set match but you have to understand Novak Djokovic is someone who has given everything to tennis. He has won this title with an abdominal tear, he has won this title with a hamstring tear. If he cannot continue this match, it means he really cannot continue.” Zverev refers to the time when Djokovic went on to win the AO 2021 title with an abdominal injury.
The multiple Australian Open winner said he wanted to continue the games, but the injury kept getting progressively worse. “I knew, even if I won the first set, it was going to be a huge uphill battle for me to stay physically fit enough to stay with him in the rallies for another two, three, four hours. I don’t think I had that unfortunately today in the tank.” Djokovic eventually posted on X: “Tried to recover for today’s match but I could only push so far. Nevertheless, positives to take out of this year’s Aus Open.”
Novak Djokovic retired from the Australian Open Semifinal due to unbearable pain from a hamstring tear. Although this disappointed many fans, Zverev ultimately did what was best for his health and advanced to the Australian Open final, where he faced Jannik Sinner.
Sources:
