Australian Open 2025: Alexander Zverev Through to Final After Novak Djokovic Retires With Injury

Novak Djokovic made to wait for 25th Grand Slam title after the Serbian tennis star was forced to retire during the Australian Open 2025 men's singles semi-final against Alexander Zverev at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Friday (January 24).

Seventh seed Djokovic, who was a fitness concern ahead of the last four clash, retired injured after losing the first set 7-6(5) against the third seed Zverev to put the German through to his first Australian Open final.

Zverev will meet the winner of the Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton match in Sunday's decider as he bids for his first Grand Slam title, while Djokovic's long wait for a record 25th major title will go on, a year after he exited Melbourne Park with a semi-final loss to Sinner.

Djokovic, who had taken a medical break during his quarter-final clash against Carlos Alcaraz earlier in the week, entered the semi-final with his left thigh strapped. But there was little indication Djokovic was struggling until late in the set when he noticeably began trudging slowly between points and muttering in frustration at his players' box.

After losing the opening set, he promptly informed Zverev that he could not go on and shook hands with the chair umpire before exiting to a chorus of boos from the Rod Laver Arena crowd. Zverev, however, defended Djokovic and pleaded the crow to show some respect.

"The very first thing I want to say is, please guys, don't boo a player when he goes out with injury. I know that everybody paid for tickets and wants to see hopefully a five-set match," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "

"He (Djokovic) has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, won this tournament with a hamstring injury. So please show some respect," Zverev added referring to Djokovic's previous achievements in Melbourne, where he has won the Major a record 10 times.

This marks only the second time Djokovic has retired from a match at the Australian Open after conceding to Andy Roddick in the 2009 quarter-final. This is also his the third time he has retired midway through a grand slam match. The latest he did so was against Stan Wawrinka at the 2019 US Open.

This also is only the fourth men's singles semi-final to be decided via retirement at the Australian Open in the Open Era after 1970 (Arthur Ashe-Dennis Ralston), 1995 (Andre Agassi-Aaron Krickstein) and 2018 (Roger Federer-Hyeon Chung).