Alexander Zverev will play in the Australian Open final after counterpart Novak Djokovic was forced to retire from their semifinal match due to injury.
Djokovic, a 10-time Australian Open champion, received a mixed reception from the crowd as he walked off the court after pulling out following the first set, won 7-6 by Zverev via a tiebreaker (7-5).
Zverev, who is seeking his first Grand Slam title, admonished the crowd a bit for the reaction during his on-court interview.
‘Please, guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,’ Zverev said, to cheers. ‘I know that everybody paid for tickets and everybody wants to see, hopefully, a great five-set match and everything, but you got to understand: Novak Djokovic is somebody that has given the sport for the past 20 years absolutely everything of his life.’
‘He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, he has won this tournament with a hamstring tear … if he cannot continue a tennis match, it really means that he cannot continue a tennis match,’ Zverev added. ‘So please, be respectful and really show some love for Novak as well.’
Zverev will face either No. 1 Jannik Sinner or American Ben Shelton in the final.
Djokovic told reporters in his post-match press conference that he was dealing with a muscle tear that really started to impact him in the latter stages of the first set.
‘I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had,’ Djokovic said. He said medications, physio work and a strap he wore on his leg ‘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 I guess to handle for me in the moment.
‘Unfortunate ending, but I tried.’
This story has been updated with new information.