The shock suddenly interrupted. After 1h21 of play and a first set which he had just released at the end of the tie-break, Novak Djokovic, visibly touched in the left thigh which had a handicapped time against Carlos Alcaraz, had to declare during his Semi-final of the Australian Open against Alexander Zverev, abandoning his dreams of 25th Grand Slam for the moment. The German qualifies for his 3rd Grand Slam final and is now waiting for Jannik Sinner or Ben Shelton.
A heartbreaker, which even caused some whistles descended from the stands of the Rod Laver Arena. In general misunderstanding, Novak Djokovic said Stop in his quest for an eleventh title in Melbourne, it seems to be continuing, when he had seen him grimacor for long minutes. Until then, he had been far from showing his best level, as he had been able to do in the quarter -finals against Alcaraz two days earlier, but he had been able to hang on in a first tense set.
5 saved break balls before saying stop
In difficulty in the service, the Serbian was the first to concede break balls, 4 precisely, from the third game in an start to the match raised. But Djokovic was very happy to see the German cruelly missing from the openings he left. The man with the 24 Grand Chelem titles was the stripped of three opportunities for recovery, which he could not convert and the showdown then settled.
Zverev: “It’s time for me to finally be lucky in the Grand Chelem final”
-Video credit: Eurosport
Despite a new break ball saved at 4 games everywhere, the “Djoker” was not smiling and seemed to run after his sensations. On the other side of the net, the world number 2 did not manage to support where it hurt for Djokovic (15 direct faults), clumsy on the fly despite some beautiful flashes to the service.
Contested in the image of the set, the tie-break was played on the first set ball in favor of the German at 6 points to 5, Djokovic missing a rather easy-to-off stroke before declaring forfeit. A blow for the 37-year-old player, one more in the semi-finals in Australia, a year after his setback suffered at the same stage of the competition against Sinner. The Italian will be, if he dominates Ben Shelton, the big favorite in a second consecutive title, facing a Zverev who will play his first final at the Australian Open.
