Djokovic throws in the towel, the first final for Zverev

There will be no 11^e Open of Australia for Novak Djokovic, at least not in 2025. Decreased in the thigh, the Serb had to give up his quest for a 25^e Major tournament, in the semi-finals against the world No. 2 Alexander Zverev.

Out of the whistles

While the German had just won the first set in tie-break, the 37-year-old Serbian came to tell him that he could not continue a match he had started with a large bandage with a left thigh, after s 'Be injured Wednesday in the quarter -finals against Carlos Alcaraz.

Released under the whistles of the public of the Rod Laver Arena, Novak Djokovic received the support of Zverev, who asked the spectators to stop conspiciting him. The two players fought an intense fight for 1:20, Djokovic managing to save five break balls on his service to push his opponent to the decisive game. At 6/5 for Zverev, the Serbian sent a volley in the net, offering the first set to his opponent, before abandoning.

A few minutes later at a press conference, Djokovic explained that he was suffering from a muscle tear. “The drugs, the care and the strap helped, but towards the end of the first set I started to feel an increasingly important pain, too difficult to manage,” said the Serbian champion. “If I had won” the first set, “I could have tried to play a few more games, maybe a set, I don't know. But even if I had won the first set, it would have been a homeric fight “against pain, he added.

Zverev finally titled?

At 27, Zverev will have a 3^e Opportunity to win a Grand Chelem title, after losing the finals of the US Open 2020 and Roland-Garros in 2024. He had never beat Djokovic in Grand Chelem. He will face on Sunday, the American Ben Shelton (20^e) Or the Italian title owner Jannik Sinner (1^is), whose semi-final is scheduled for Friday evening in Melbourne.

If he were to triumph for the first time in Grand Chelem, Zverev would become the player to need the greatest number of participations (10) to win the Australian Open, in front of the Swiss Stan Wawrinka and the Czech Petr Korda, tournament winners at their 9^e tentative.