Novak Djokovic withdrew from his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev due to injury in a shocking twist at Melbourne Park. (More Tennis News)
❀Djokovic sustained a muscular injury in his titanic tussle with Carlos Alcaraz earlier this week, and came onto the court at Rod Laver Arena on Friday with heavy strapping around his left leg.
⛎He appeared to seize up towards the end of the first set, which lasted 82 minutes and needed a tiebreak to be decided, with Zverev taking a 7-6 (7-5) lead when Djokovic sliced a volley into the net from close range.
ꦇDjokovic immediately approached and embraced Zverev before turning to the umpire to withdraw. Some sections of the support began to jeer the 10-time champion as he made his way off court.
🏅The 37-year-old had squandered three break points while fending off five before he conceded.
⛎Zverev, who is searching for his maiden major title, is into his first Australian Open final, and will face either Ben Shelton or defending champion Jannik Sinner.
Data Debrief: Despair for Djokovic
💞Playing in his 100th Australian Open match, Djokovic could just not last.
🌳This marks only the second time he has retired from a match at the major, after conceding to Andy Roddick in the 2009 quarter-final. Indeed, Djokovic had last retired from a grand slam match back in 2019, against Stan Wawrinka at the 2019 US Open.
♛It makes Zverev only the second male player in the Open Era to have both won and lost a grand slam semi-final via retirement, after Rafael Nadal - one of whose wins came against the German at the 2022 French Open.
꧂This is only the fourth men's singles semi-final to be decided via retirement at the Australian Open in the Open Era after 1970 (Arthur Ashe-Dennis Ralston), 1995 (Andre Agassi-Aaron Krickstein) and 2018 (Roger Federer-Hyeon Chung).
