Novak Djokovic’s bid for a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and 25th major championship ended abruptly when he retired injured during his semi-final match against Alexander Zverev.
The 37-year-old Serb, with his upper left leg heavily taped from a muscle injury sustained in his quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz, lost the first set 7-6 (7-5) before withdrawing from the match.
“I did everything I possibly could to manage the muscle tear,” Djokovic explained. “Towards the end of the first set, I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much to handle.”
After slapping a volley into the net on set point, Djokovic approached Zverev, shook his hand, and waved to the crowd with a double thumbs up. Some sections of Rod Laver Arena responded with audible boos.
“I knew even if I won the first set, it would be a huge uphill battle to stay physically fit enough to compete for two, three, or four hours,” he added. “I don’t think I had that in the tank today.”
German second seed Zverev continues his quest for his first Grand Slam title. He will face either Italian top seed Jannik Sinner or American 21st seed Ben Shelton in Sunday’s final.
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