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Novak Djokovic Retires After Dropping First Set of Australian Open Semifinal

Alexander Zverev is advancing to the Australian Open final.

Tyler Lauletta

Novak Djokovic waves to the crowd after retiring during the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic waves to the crowd after retiring during the semifinals of the Australian Open. / Yuichi Yamazaki / Getty Images

The Australian Open semifinal match between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev came to a shocking conclusion late Thursday night for fans watching in the United States when Djokovic retired due to injury after a thrilling first set.

Djokovic and Zverev played to a tiebreak in the opening set of what had all the makings of a five-set classic, and by the time Zverev took the tiebreak 7–5, 82 minutes had passed.

As soon as the final point of the set was decided, Djokovic went to shake Zverev’s hand, bowing out of the match.

Some fans booed as Djokovic walked off the court, which he responded to with a thumbs up.

With the win, Zverev moved on to the final, where he will face the winner of the match between Ben Shelton and Jannik Sinner with hopes of securing the first major title of his career.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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