Tennis champion Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from his semi-final match against Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open, leaving fans shocked.
The ten-time Australian Open champion walked away from the match after one hour and 21 minutes on Friday, after losing the tiebreak 7-5.
“Unbelievable turn of events,” tennis legend and Nine’s AO commentator John McEnroe said on air.
The crowd — who were hoping for a five-match showdown — erupted into boos, but Zverev urged for respect in his post match interview.
“I know that everybody paid for tickets and everyone wants to see a five-set match, you gotta understand, Novak is someone who has given this sport for 20 years everything in his life,” Zverev said in his post match interview.
“He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, he’s won it with a hamstring injury, if he cannot continue a tennis match he cannot continue a tennis match. Please, be respectful.”
Zverev went on to express his admiration for Djokovic. “I’m being 100 per cent honest, there’s no guy on the tour that I respect more than Novak,” he stated.
“He’s been one of my closest friends on tour, whenever I struggled I could always text him, call him, I could always call him for advice.”
The injury first became apparent during his quarter-final match against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday. During the match, he had already shown signs of physical strain, leaving the court at 4-5 down in the first set for a medical timeout and returning with his upper left thigh strapped.
McEnroe also expressed dismay at the crowd’s reaction to Djokovic pulling out. “They can’t possibly be booing him,” he said on air. “Please! He’s won this ten times, for god’s sake. Unreal.”
Zverev will now move through to the Australian Open finals, playing the winner of Friday night’s second semi-final between Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton.
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