John McEnroe ripped into the Australian Open crowd following the Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev match, declaring their boos for the Serb “ludicrous.”
After overcoming Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday despite a left leg injury, the record 10-time champion at Melbourne Park managed to take to the court on Friday.
But after the second-seeded German won a one-hour and 21-minute first-set marathon 7-6 (5), the 37-year-old said that he couldn’t continue and retired from the match.
The crowd didn’t appreciate that move at all, loudly booing Djokovic.
Not how we wanted your campaign to end, @djokernole.
Thank you for another wonderful Australian summer. Well played and best wishes for a speedy recovery.#AO2025 pic.twitter.com/d5VJ6YNBeN
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 24, 2025
And tennis legend McEnroe couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.
“He’s won this 10 times. I mean, come on. I mean, clearly something was up,” the former seven-time Grand Slam champion said on Nine.
“The guy is a battler. I mean, him and Rafa (Nadal) have dug deeper than any two players I have seen. So to do that because he decided that he couldn’t go on after what he’s done here I thought was absolutely ludicrous, honestly.
“That was almost as depressing as seeing the end of the match.”
How Djokovic, Zverev reacted to the boos?
The German tennis star came to the Serb’s defense and tried to make the crowd stop with the boos, telling them that booing an injured player wasn’t really a respectful act.
“Please, guys, don’t boo a player who leaves the court due to injury,” the world No. 2 said.
Meanwhile, when asked about the incident in his post-match presser, Djokovic said he could understand the boos from the point of view that the crowd paid their tickets and wanted to see a battle.
However, he also noted that there was another perspective, in which he was injured.
Also, the record 10-time Australian Open champion suggested that some should remember how much he gave of himself to the Happy Slam over the last 20 years.
In his presser, the 37-year-old disclosed that he sustained a muscle tear.
Tennis World USA