The retirement of Novak Djokovic on Friday in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, due to a “muscle tear”, resurfaces doubts about the Serbian champion's ability to win a record 25th Grand Slam title, a rare records that still elude him.
With 24 trophies won in major tournaments at almost 38 years old (a milestone he will reach in May), the Serbian still shares the record for the number of Grand Slam titles with Australian Margaret Court.
His last victory in one of the four flagship tournaments of world tennis dates back to the US Open in 2023, and in 2024 he experienced his first blank year at this level since 2017, notably being beaten in the Wimbledon final by the young wolf Carlos Alcaraz.
The unusual eclipse of 2024 in the Grand Slam was, however, attenuated by the Olympic gold medal that he finally managed to win at the Paris Games, on clay which in theory suits him much less than grass or hard court. .
After recruiting his old rival Andy Murray as a luxury coach in the fall, with the stated objective of winning this 25th trophy in Melbourne, which eluded him, the Serbian gave the impression of gaining strength as the tournament progressed.
Until this quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz, both sumptuous from a playing point of view and fatal on a physical level since Djokovic said he was “concerned” by his injury at the end of the match and the dissipation of the effects of painkillers.
– More frequent injuries –
Friday against Zverev, “the medicines, the treatments and the strap (…) helped, but towards the end of the first set I started to feel more and more pain, too difficult to manage”, – he explained.
A bitter end to the tournament for the Serbian who was able to verify before the start of the Australian Open how much his opponents still fear him.
Teasingly, Djokovic invited himself to the end of Alexander Zverev's pre-tournament press conference and asked if he could ask a question. The German answered him before he could even ask it: “Yes, you are going to win your 25th Grand Slam, we will all be happy. Yay, Novak Djokovic again!”, smiled the world No.2.
Djokovic's withdrawal is reminiscent of his withdrawal last year in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros due to an injury to his right knee after a hard-fought qualification in the previous round against Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo.
-In 2021 and then in 2023, Djokovic won the Australian Open despite injuries to his abdominals and hamstrings respectively, but that time now seems to be over.
“I don't wonder before each Grand Slam whether I'm going to get injured or not, but the statistics have not been in my favor in recent years,” he admitted on Friday.
– “I will continue” –
After the sporting retirements of Roger Federer in September 2022 and Rafael Nadal last November, that of the last active member of the Big 3 of men's tennis could end up imposing itself on him.
There is a “possibility” that the 2025 edition of the Australian Open could have been his last, he admitted on Friday. But “I will continue to fight to win more Grand Slams”, he also affirmed, while he does not yet know the duration of his absence from the circuit but recalled Friday that he had planned to compete the Doha tournament (February 17-22).
“I'm going to go back to Europe, consult with my medical team and try to figure out how to recover quickly,” he explained.
Whether it's Zverev, Alcaraz or world No.1 Jannik Sinner, the competition won't wait for him in any case.
As for the future of his collaboration with Andy Murray, initially hired until the end of the Australian Open, Djokovic also judged on Friday that it was too early to comment.
bur-pst/dh/alh/dga/hpa
