Mumbai: Alexander Zverev was into his first Australian Open last. Earlier than the celebrations may start, although, a clarification needed to be issued.
Novak Djokovic waves to the gang as he leaves the courtroom after retiring from his semi-final towards Alexander Zverev. (REUTERS)
“If he cannot continue a tennis match, it really means he cannot continue a tennis match,” Zverev instructed spectators, stressing on the phrase “really”.
Moments earlier, Novak Djokovic had walked off Rod Laver Enviornment, a courtroom on which he soaked in 10 instances over adulation reserved for champions, to a hoop of boos.
Djokovic had simply clipped the wings of a possible marathon after the primary flip that went on for an hour and 21 minutes and right into a tiebreaker. At no level by means of these lengthy minutes and rallies did Djokovic’s left leg, strapped after the harm from his earlier match towards Carlos Alcaraz, present any seen indicators of stopping fully. After which, seemingly out of nowhere as he netted a easy volley going through set level at 5-6 within the tiebreaker, Djokovic walked as much as Zverev and pulled the plug.
Within the stands, followers gasped. On his chair, Zverev sat with the racquet pasted to his lips. A Djokovic mid-match retirement, after his youthful days within the sport, has been a uncommon phenomenon (it hasn’t occurred on the Australian Open since 2009, and in a Slam because the 2019 US Open). Of late, it’s getting a bit extra frequent.
Djokovic mentioned later it was a muscle tear. In his thoughts he hoped the additional relaxation day after the quarter-final, which he one way or the other managed to tug by means of, was going to be ok to get him by means of the semi-final too. His 37-year-old physique thought in any other case.
“Towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much to handle,” Djokovic mentioned.
Two of the Serb’s final 4 Slam appearances have now resulted in retirements. Djokovic was compelled to withdraw from his 2024 French Open quarter-final due to a proper knee harm from the earlier spherical. Months later, he pulled out of the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals citing an unspecified harm. He turned up for the Australian Open effectively rested, just for the left leg to offer in.
The person who was the epitome of health is now more and more battling frailty. His tennis should be doing fairly a little bit of speaking, however his physique is giving up extra typically. Worryingly for him, on the greatest of levels and deepest of settings. Rafael Nadal, Djokovic’s fierce rival, additionally went by means of this within the last chapters of his profession (his final Wimbledon end result was a semi-final walkover). Age does its factor even to the GOATs; whether or not it’s to Nadal who was typically injury-prone or Djokovic who has largely been a bodily beast.
“The statistics are against me, in a way, in the last couple of years,” Djokovic mentioned. “It’s not like I’m worrying approaching every Grand Slam now whether I’m going to get injured or not… (but) it is true that I’m getting injured quite a bit the last two years.”
Not that Djokovic was proof against accidents earlier than. He’s had his fair proportion of compelled bodily pauses, but not damaging sufficient to halt him mid-tournament going for titles at this frequency. A few of the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s most memorable triumphs have come whereas overcoming obstacles of the physique. Solely two years in the past on the Australian Open, Djokovic went all the way in which with out having the ability to follow between rounds — like he didn’t between Tuesday and Friday — and later revealed that he had a torn hamstring. In 2021 on the similar Slam, he grappled with an belly difficulty whereas beating Zverev within the quarter-final firing over 20 aces and, once more, profitable the entire thing.
“Two years ago, I managed it better. On the court it (injury) didn’t bother me as much. This time that wasn’t the case,” Djokovic mentioned.
Which, for Djokovic and his new coach Andy Murray, was a disgrace as a result of the previous felt pretty much as good on courtroom over the previous couple of weeks as he did within the final 12 months. He favored his probabilities, he mentioned, “if I was physically fit and ready to battle”. There’s a probability, he additionally mentioned, that he might not have the ability to come again to his favorite Slam. That’s realising he’s 37, despite the fact that he isn’t prepared to surrender.
“I’ll keep striving to win more Slams,” he mentioned. “As long as I feel I want to put up with all of this, I’ll be around.”
At 37, Djokovic additionally realises the obvious risk to that. “Injury is the biggest enemy of a professional athlete.”