Tennis followers had been entertained to loads of motion in the course of the recently-concluded Australian Open 2025. However they had been additionally served a reminder that the Massive Three was going to be a part of historical past quickly. Novak Djokovic, who’s the one remaining energetic member of the Massive Three (which additionally consists of retired gamers Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), reached the semi-finals in Melbourne, however age proved to be an element.
Novak Djokovic throughout a press convention.(REUTERS)
The 37-year-old retired harm after the primary set of his semi-finals vs eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev. Djokovic was additionally in seen ache throughout his quarter-final win vs Carlos Alcaraz, however many followers, together with legend John McEnroe felt that he was performing to catch his opponent off guard. In the meantime, after he withdrew from his semi-finals, the Rod Laver Enviornment crowd booed him and it required the intervention of Zverev, who urged them to not jeer at a legend like Djokovic. Later the Serbian ace additionally posted a photograph of the scan of his muscle tear on social media. Evaluating the picture, ESPN’s Chris Fowler acknowledged that Djokovic will miss some months attributable to his torn hamstring and will return to motion for the French Open in Might.
Fowler referred to as it a deep tear, and identified, “That’s in the deepest part of the hamstring and the hamstring is a problem because it’s a big muscle. It’s deep in there, it’s hard to treat it properly.”
In the meantime, McEnroe, who was additionally current, exclaimed, “Who can blame him at this point?”
‘The first one doing it is my father’: Novak Djokovic
Throughout a latest interview with GQ Sports activities, Djokovic revealed that his father has been urging him to retire, together with the media and followers. “I feel like people are already writing my tennis obituary. The media, the fans… and I don’t know if he’ll like me saying this, but I’ll say it anyway: the first one doing it is my father,” he stated.
“My father has been trying to get me to retire for some time, but he hasn’t been insistent. He respects my decision to move forward and, of course, understands why I want to continue, but he says to me: ‘What else do you want to do?’ He understands the amount and intensity of the pressure and tension out there, and the stress that affects my health, my body, and consequently, everyone around me, including him. That’s why he told me: ‘My son, start thinking about how you want to end this’,” he added.
Djokovic’s age was an enormous issue final 12 months too as he did not win a single Grand Slam title. Though, he did win gold on the Paris Olympics 2024, defeating Carlos Alcaraz within the remaining.