Just when every tennis fan thought of witnessing yet another Grand Slam title victory by 37-year-old Novak Djokovic, the situation took a rather unfortunate turn. The 24-time Grand Slam title champion crashed out of the Australian Open 2025 after retiring mid-match due to injury against Alexander Zverev in the first set.
However, in the post-match press conference, Novak Djokovic dropped a major retirement hint.
When asked about whether this would be his last Australian Open, Novak said, “I don’t know. There is a chance. Who knows? I’ll just have to see how the season goes, and you know I want to keep going, but whether I’m going to have a revised schedule or not for the next year.
Djokovic concluded, “I am not sure. I normally like to come to Australia and play and have had the biggest success in my career here. If I am healthy. motivated, there is no reason why.”
With this retirement, Djokovic has now participated in five Grand Slams without winning. This means he lost five golden chances to surpass Margaret Court’s 24 Grand Slam count to become the all-time leader. However, the entire season is still ahead of him, and there could very well be another Grand Slam title to his name.
What happened to Novak Djokovic during the Australian Open semifinals?
When Zverev won the first set by 7-6, Novak moved towards the net and shook his opponent’s hands to retire mid-match.
The move, as expected, came as a big shock to his fans. Djokovic, who was carrying an injury from his quarter-final match against young gun Carlos Alcaraz, seemed a bit uncomfortable since the beginning of the match.
After trailing against Zverev in long rallies in the first set, Novak Djokovic decided to retire early and not worsen his condition to a greater extent.
With this, Zverev will now take on the winner of the match between Ben Shelton and Jannik Sinner in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday.
This will be Alexander Zverev’s first Grand Slam title if he manages to outshine on the final day.