After an injury forced him to retire from the semifinals of the Australia Open on Friday, Serbian tennis icon Novak Djokovic revealed that he had suffered an unspecified muscle tear which caused him to end his journey in the tournament on a heartbreaking note. Germany’s Alexander Zverev cruised to the final of the ongoing Australia Open 2025 in the men’s singles category after Djokovic, retired from the semi-final clash after suffering an injury on Friday. This has put an end to Djokovic’s campaign in the most disappointing possible, denying him a chance at a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title, his 11th Australian Open title and a century of ATP Tour Level titles.
Djokovic, struggling with the injury from the outset, managed to hold his ground against Zverev for around 90 minutes in the first set. The opening set went to a tie-break which the German player went on to win with a scoreline of 7-6.
At 1-2, 0/40, Djokovic created three break points and fought off five break points total in the first set, before the Serbian scored a standard volley with the court open in the last point, the tie-break was all on serve.
Speaking after the match as quoted by ATP’s official website, Djokovic said that he had not hit a ball since his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz.
“I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had. Medications and, I guess, the strap, and the physio work helped to some extent today. But yeah, towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much, I guess, to handle for me at the moment,” said Djokovic.
“Unfortunate ending, but I tried,” he added.
Despite not being at his best physically, the 37-year-old, who played with his upper part of left leg taped, did well enough to put himself in a fine position in the first set against Zverev, but he could not continue. He declared it a “huge uphill battle” to stay fit for massive and intense rallies for several hours.
“It is a muscle tear. Two years ago, I have managed it better. On the court, it did not bother me as much. This time that was not the case. So in these kind of instances I guess have you to try to do as much as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time, and that was the case. I had an extra day, so two days no match. So I thought it is going to be good enough maybe. But yeah, that was not the case, unfortunately,” he added.
In early hours of Wednesday morning, Djokovic had secured a win over Alcaraz in a four-set blockbuster clash, during which he did struggle physically, but managed to persevere and fight through the pain.
“I actually thought I played really well, as well as I played the past 12 months, to be honest. I liked my chances if I was physically fit and ready to battle. I liked my chances today. Who knows? Of course, it was never going to be an easy battle, an easy match for me. Neither was it for Sascha, even if I was not injured,” he said.
Djokovic went on to say that injuries are the “biggest enemy” for an athlete.
“In the past, I managed certain injuries, like the one you mentioned a few years ago that to some extent even helped me even play better and win the tournament,” said Djokovic.
“It was not to be this time. That is okay. I cannot throw away all the incredible memories and results and achievements that I have achieved here over the years just because this year I retired in the semi-finals,” he added.
The world number six in the ATP Rankings said that some more examination of the injury will follow on his return to Europe before he consults with his medical team for a way forward.
“I had success with quick recoveries in the past. Let us see,” Djokovic said. “It just depends on the muscle and how it responds to the treatment,” he added.
“It is true that I have been getting injured quite a bit [the] past few years. I do not know what exactly is the reason for that,. Maybe several different factors. But I will keep going. I will keep striving to win more Slams. And as long as I feel that I want to put up with all of this, I will be around,” he concluded.
Zverev will now face the winner of the second semi-final between Jannik Sinner and Alex de Minaur in the final on Sunday.
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