Novak Djokovic ended up at the center of attention during the 2025 Australian Open. The former world No.1 – who wanted to lift his 11th trophy at Melbourne Park – played an outstanding match against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, but had to retire after the first set of the semifinal against Alexander Zverev due to a left thigh injury.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion had already been injured during the match against Carlitos, but he had managed to continue the match thanks to anti-inflammatories and had prevailed in four sets using all his experience.
Djokovic is polarizing
Australian fans did not like his decision to retire after the first set against Zverev and loudly booed him as he was leaving the Rod Laver Arena.
The Serbian legend did not like that behavior of the crowd and the following day he posted the resonance of his injury on social media. Initially it was feared that it was a fairly deep tear but – according to the latest rumors – the injury would be less serious than expected and Nole could return to action as early as Doha in the second half of February.
In an interview with ‘Tennis365’, well-known broadcaster Jonathan Overend reflected again on the bad treatment received by Novak in Australia: “To be booed off the court when you have been a champion there ten times over was a surprise.
You never like to hear it and I don’t really understand why it happened.”
He also added: “Whether the fans felt they didn’t receive value for money or not, is a spurious argument. Tennis is a curious sport that can go on for hours and hours, but they saw more in one set than you would get in a lot of other sports between Djokovic and Zverev.
The whole thing was quite perplexing and I’m sure Novak came away from it all feeling pretty annoyed.”
The 37-year-old from Belgrade is expected to return to practice in a light form in the coming days.
Tennis World USA