Novak Djokovic recently showed his never-die spirit during his semifinal clash with Daniil Medvedev at the Astana Open. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova referred to his performance as a class act and called the Serbian tennis player a fierce competitor, who is always ready for a fight.

Despite puttin in a tough fight, Medvedeve had to retire mid-match due to an unspecified injury. The sudden withdrawal gave Djokovic a walkover, and he has now advanced to the final of the tournament. Having criticized the Serbian star for his stance on vaccination earlier this year, fans weren’t too please to see Navratilova do the opposite and praise Djokovic’s performance. Notably, tennis fans anticipated that the 18-time Grand Slam champion is covering for her criticism of the legendary Serbian. 

Fans fume over a tweet of Martina Navratilova after the Astana Open semi-finals

When Daniil Medvedev decided to withdraw from the match, even his opponent was surprised at first. The tennis star also expressed his disappointment about Medvedev’s retirement after the match.

However, when Navratilova tweeted and talked about how the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s fighting spirit, fans of the Serbian legend didn’t take it lightly. Many alluded to the former Czech-American player’s recent criticism of Djokovic’s stance on vaccination.

Here are some tweets that depict that the American tennis legend is doing some damage control.

Fans were not able to control themselves and fumed out. A fan wrote, “She really wants a redemption, doesn’t she? you’ve come for Novak a lot recently.”

Further, a fan also addressed the tennis star as an old grandma, who is trying to do some damage control. And wrote, “When selfish, jealous irrelevant grandmas enter “Damage-Control” mode in social media, it looks just like this.”

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One fan wrote, “I’m sorry but this feels desperate. Like I agree that she ain’t biased against Novak, but this feels like she wants to show the world.”

Djokovic’s received a warning in the semi-finals

Before the sudden walkover, the match was already surfing as the Serbian star got into a heated argument with the chair umpire in between the match. Frustrated with not being able to return Medvedev’s backhand, the 21-time Grand Slam champion jokingly hurled his racquet.

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Nevertheless, no one got hurt and the former world number one did a quick apology. The chair umpire also gave a warning, which confused the tennis player because he wasn’t sure what kind of warning was given to him. However, more than the argument, the withdrawal came as a bigger shock to the tennis world.