
Novak Djokovic pulled out of the semi-final of the Australian Open 2025. The Serbian beat Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarters to advance to the semis. However, he dealt with a leg injury in the game and even opted for a medical time-out after the first set. After a few minutes he made his return back to the court and since, the 37-year-old looked flawless and managed to get over the line against Alcaraz to move an inch closer to his 25th career Grand Slam.
The injury however bothered Djokovic’s preparations. He didn’t train for the match against Alexander Zverev and in the semis, he pulled out after just the first set. Despite being heavily taped up, Djokovic looked to be in good shape for the game at Melbourne Park but the injury soon started to bother him, resulting in him throwing his towel in the middle.
After the match, the 24-time Grand Slam winner revealed that he was dealing with a muscle tear and tried his best to continue but it wasn’t meant to be. He added that towards the end of the first set, things got extremely difficult for him and despite his best attempts to continue, he had to withdraw.
“I did everything I possibly could to basically manage the muscle tear that I had. Towards the end of that first set, I started feeling more and more pain and it was too much to handle for me at the moment. It was an unfortunate ending, but I tried,” Djokovic said in the press conference.
Meanwhile, Djokovic also pulled out of the Roland Garros in 2024. The 10-time Australian Open winner acknowledged that injuries have started bothering his career but he hasn’t been able to pinpoint the reason behind it. However, he is optimistic of a strong return and noted that he is striving to win more slams in his career.
“How much of a worry is it? I don’t know. It’s not like I’m worrying approaching every grand slam now whether I’m going to get injured or not, but statistics are against me, in a way, in the last couple of years. So it is true that (I have been) getting injured quite a bit last few years. I don’t know what exactly is the reason for that, you know? “Maybe (there are) several differently factors. But I’ll keep going. I’ll keep striving to win more slams. And as long as I feel that I want to put up with all of this, I’ll be around,” Djokovic added.