Just not the way it was meant to end! Novak Djokovic just retired from the Australian Open semi-final match against Alexander Zverev after finishing only the first set 6-7 (5-7). Chasing his 11th Grand Slam Down Under, Novak couldn’t finish the match due to a muscle tear. The 24-Grand Slam winner struggled during his QF clash against Carlos Alcaraz as well, but he somehow got through that match. However, that didn’t turn out to be the case against Zverev where he had to give up after just one set. Right after the match, Djokovic revealed why he couldn’t manage to go through this time, unfortunately!

Djokovic survived a grueling QF match against Carlos Alcaraz in a packed Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. Struggling with his fitness from the first set itself, the Serbian took a medical timeout after Carlos took a 5-4 lead. However, as he returned to the court, the crowds saw his left leg heavily strapped as he came with the support of his new mentor Andy Murray. However, it’s Novak at the end, isn’t it? Despite the injury, the Serbian continued with the match and somehow managed to win three successive sets to book his place in his 50th Grand Slam semi-final. He even added his remarks about the injury after the match.

“How did I win? With my two legs and two arms, I guess. One and a half legs, in fact! If I lost that second set I don’t know if I’d continue playing… When the medications start to release I’ll see what the reality is tomorrow morning,” Novak said in the post-match interview. However, as he was hopeful to continue with potentially another four or five setter today, he eventually couldn’t pull it off.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion just wrapped up his post-match press conference at the AO, where he was questioned about a ‘scan’ he underwent two years ago before continuing in the same tournament. Well, Nole gave a brief remark on that, saying “Yeah I mean look, it’s a muscle tear you know. Two years ago you know I could have um, I have managed it better on the court it didn’t bother me as much. This time that wasn’t the case so you know. These kind of instances you just I guess you have to try to do as much as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time and that was the case. Yeah, I had an extra day so, two days, no match so I thought you know it’s going to be good enough maybe but yeah, that wasn’t the case unfortunately.” But what really happened two years ago?

Well, remember the 2023 Adelaide International? Well, Novak participated in the warm-up tournament of 2023 just before the AO that year where he suffered a hamstring injury. Despite that, he reached the final of the season-opening Grand Slam and beat the then-third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a four-setter match to clinch his 10th AO title, matching Rafa Nadal’s haul. However, just after the Slam, tournament director Craig Tiley had a conversation with SEN Sportsday where he revealed his major injury.

“This guy I did see, he had a three-centimetre tear in his hammy. Absolutely (I saw the scans), the doctors are going to tell you the truth. There was a lot of speculation about whether it was true or not, it’s hard to believe that they can do what they do with those kinds of injuries. He’s remarkable, to deal with it extremely professionally,” Tiley said. Not only that! The Serbian also won the 2021 AO slam despite tearing an abdominal muscle in the third round of the tournament.

With Djokovic withdrawing from the semifinal after just one set, his SF opponent Sascha automatically advances to his third Grand final where he will face either Ben Shelton or Jannik Sinner.

Djokovic’s sudden decision to withdraw was, however, not taken in good spirit by Rod Laver crowd as the Serb faced massive boos.

“Please, guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,” Sascha backed Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic ended his run at the current AO after losing the first set to Sascha. However, the 37-year-old fought hard for the set as his opponent Zverev needed 1 hour and 21 minutes to win the opening set in the tie-breaker. As Djokovic withdrew and made his way into the tunnel, he faced boos which Sascha didn’t like.

Just after the match ended, the German had an interview on the court where he was asked about his feelings about the situation. Well, the German started by backing the injured Novak. “Please guys don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury. I know everyone paid for tickets.. but Novak has given everything of his life to the sport the last 20 years,” Zverev said. That’s not all! He also added his remarks about how Novak helped Sascha in the past.

“There’s no guy on the tour that I respect more than Novak. He’s been one of my closest friends on tour, whenever I struggled I could always text him I could always call him, ask for his advice. I was speaking to him last year in Shanghai when I was really struggling mentally a little bit and after the US Open defeat at the QF, he’s always the somebody that helped a lot,” Zverev added.

After a tough 2024 where he won no Slam titles, Do you think Novak Djokovic will be able to end his title drought at some point this year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.