Novak Djokovic retires injured from Australian Open semi-final, as some fans boo

Novak Djokovic of Serbia wipes the sweat from his face during his semifinal match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday. Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP hide caption

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Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP

Tennis star Novak Djokovic was booed by some sections of the crowd after retiring injured from his Australian Open semi-final against German Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic, who was aiming for an all-time standalone record of 25 major titles, quit after losing the first set 7-6 in a tie break, walking over to shake Zverev's hand.

The 37-year-old Serbian had torn a muscle in his leg during his four-set quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday, when lunging for a drop shot. He was wearing a large bandage on his upper left leg on Friday.

"I just started feeling more and more pain," Djokovic said. "It was too much to handle for me." He went on: "I knew even if I won the first set, that it's going to be a huge uphill battle for me to stay physically fit enough to stay with him in the rallies for two, three, four hours."

Some of the 15,000 people inside the Rod Laver Arena booed Djokovic as he retired, leading Zverev to call for respect for his opponent, who has won the Australian open a record ten times, including while carrying injuries.

Alexander Zverev of Germany reacts after winning the first set during his semifinal match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday. Ng Han Guan/AP hide caption

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Ng Han Guan/AP

"Please guys, don't boo when a player is injured," Zverev said in his post match on-court interview. "Novak Djokovic is someone who has given absolutely everything to tennis," he went on. "If he cannot continue this match, it means he really cannot continue." Zverev said he hadn't noticed that Djokovic was injured, saying it was a "high level set."

With 24, Djokovic has won more grand slam singles titles than any other male player, two more than Rafael Nadal and four more than Roger Federer. He also has one more than Serena Williams, but is tied with Australian former player Margaret Court, who won 24 major singles titles. Last year, Djokovic won his first Olympic Gold at the Paris 2024 games, leaving him with little left to achieve in the sport.

As soon as he beat Alcaraz on Tuesday, Djokovic emotionally embraced British ex-player Andy Murray, who he has recently been employing as his coach, after over a decade of on-court rivalry. "I feel more and more connected with Andy every day," Djokovic said this week.

On Sunday, Zverev will play either first seed Italian Jannik Sinner or American 21st seed Ben Shelton in the final.