Injured Novak Djokovic Booed After He Quits Semifinal at Australian Open: ‘I Did Everything I Possibly Could’

Novak Djokovic is recovering from an injury that left him unable to claim his 11th Australian Open victory.

On Friday afternoon, local time, the Serbian tennis player, 37, arrived for his semifinal against Alexander Zverev with his left leg heavily taped, having torn a muscle during Tuesday’s win over Carlos Alcaraz.

He played just one set when he was forced to retire from the competition with injury, according to the BBC.

"I did everything I possibly could do to manage the muscle tear that I had," said Djokovic in a press conference.

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"Towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain,” he continued. “It was too much to handle for me."

Despite having missed Wednesday and Thursday's practice, the 10-time Australian Open champion was on track for a 25th grand slam victory before losing the first set 7-6 (7-5) in 80 minutes.

According to the BBC, some of the 15,000 fans sitting inside Rod Laver Arena booed Djokovic as he began to walk off the court.

“I don’t know what to tell you. But, people came here, paid for the tickets and expected a battle, and they didn’t get it,” Djokovic told Serbian media after the match, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

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“If you look at it that way, I understand,” he continued. “At least I’m trying to understand them. I don’t know if they understand me or wish to understand me.

“I know what’s in my body, what I feel, how much I gave of myself to this tournament in the past 20 plus years. Now I’ll stop, so I don’t continue down the wrong path,” he added.

Djokovic previously won the 2021 title despite having an abdominal muscle tear and had a torn hamstring while playing in 2023.

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Zverev defended Djokovic in his on-court interview on Friday, arguing that the crowd should’ve shown more respect.

“I know that everybody paid for tickets there, and hopefully gets to see a great five-set match,” Zverev said, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

“But you’ve got to understand Novak Djokovic is someone who has given this sport for the past 20 years absolutely everything of his life,” he continued. “He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear. He has won this tournament with a hamstring tear.”

The world No.2 will now go up against Italian player Jannik Sinner or American player Ben Shelton with the hopes of winning his first Grand Slam title on Sunday.

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