Ten-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic was booed off the court by some sections of the Rod Laver Arena audience when he sensationally retired hurt from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev on Friday after losing the first set.
The Serb suffered an injury to his groin area in his quarter-final against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday and took to the court with both dark tape and a white bandage enveloping his upper thigh.
He revealed afterwards he had not hit a ball since his previous match, and the pain proved too much. “I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had,” Djokovic said.
“Medications, and this strap, and the physio work helped to some extent today, but towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain, and it was too much to handle for me at the moment. So, yeah, unfortunate ending, but I tried.”
Djokovic addressed the booing from some sections of the crowd in comments to Serbian media: “People came here, bought a ticket, expected a battle and they’re not satisfied. If you look at it from that perspective, I understand,” he said, in his native language translated to English.
“I am trying to understand them and I don’t know if they understand me, or are at least willing to. I know what’s happening in my body, and I know how I feel, how much energy I’ve given this tournament over the last 20-plus years.”
When he was asked whether this was his last Australian Open, the 37-year-old was non-committal. “I don’t know, there is a chance. Who knows? I’ll just have to see how the season goes,” he said.
“I want to keep going, but whether I’m going to have a revised schedule or not for the next year, I’m not sure. I normally like to come to Australia and play, and I’ve had the biggest success in my career here. So if I’m fit, healthy, motivated, I don’t see a reason why I wouldn’t come, but there’s always a chance.”
Despite the ailment, Djokovic looked close to his best across 81 minutes in a taxing first set, won narrowly by the German in a tie-break 7-5. But after missing a volley to hand Zverev the set, the Serb walked to the opposite side of the court and embraced the second seed.
After an announcement saying the match was over, Djokovic walked off the court amid of chorus of boos from some sections of the crowd, who had paid hundreds of dollars for tickets. Djokovic raised his arms and gave two thumbs-up gestures.
Immediately afterwards Zverev criticised those who booed Djokovic, in his on-court interview after the match. “The very first thing I want to say is, please guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,” he said, prompting applause from a majority of the crowd.
“I know that everybody paid for tickets and everybody wants to see, hopefully, a great five-set match and everything. But you’ve got to understand, Novak Djokovic is somebody that has given this sport, for the past 20 years, absolutely everything of his life.”
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On host broadcaster Channel Nine, commentator and former Australian tennis player John Millman criticised the crowd’s reaction. “It was only a small portion [of the crowd], but you don’t boo a champion,” he said, saying it was embarrassing and Djokovic – as perhaps the greatest player to have played on Rod Laver Arena – deserves respect.
The episode was a jarring end to another headline-grabbing tournament for Djokovic, who knocked out the highly fancied third seed Alcaraz in the previous round despite his injury. Earlier in the week, he refused to do an on-court interview after he felt he was disrespected by Channel Nine reporter Tony Jones in a television cross.
Djokovic said although he doesn’t know whether he will be back in Melbourne, he feels like he played his best tennis of the past 12 months against Alcaraz. “It’s not like I’m worrying approaching every grand slam now whether I’m going to get injured or not, but statistics are against me in a way in the last couple of years,” he said.
“It is true that [I have been] getting injured quite a bit the last few years. I don’t know what exactly is the reason for that, maybe several different factors. But I’ll keep going, I’ll keep striving to win more slams. And as long as I feel that I want to put up with all of this, I’ll be around.”
