Alexander Zverev, has broken his silence on Novak Djokovic sudden retirement from Australian Open amid their semi-final match.
Zverev, who made his place in the final of 2025 Australian Open as Djokovic quit after the first set of their match on Friday, has reacted to world No. 1 player's exit from the tournament after suffering an injury.
The unexpected move by the 24-time Grand Slam champion left the crowd confused and shock, who sent off Djokovic with boos.
The German player displayed his class during an on-court interview with Jim Courier, he pointed out the audience, sharing, "The very first thing I want to say is please, guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with an injury."
Zverev added, "I know everyone paid tickets and everyone wants to see hopefully a great five-set match. But… Novak Djokovic someone who has given this sport for the past 20 years absolutely everything of his life."
It is pertinent to note, the Serbian player retired from the semi-final after he lost his first set to the 27-year-old with 7-5.
"I actually thought it was quite a high-level first set," he said. "But, I mean like, of course, there are some difficulties and the longer you continue playing then maybe the worse it gets."
While sharing Djokovic on-court struggles, Zverev revealed, "In the tiebreak, maybe he was not moving as well as in the entire first set but I thought we had extremely long rallies, extremely difficult, physical also rallies. In the tiebreak, I did see him struggle maybe a bit more."
Alexander Zverev is now set to play 2025 Australian Open on Sunday with either Jannik Sinner or Ben Shelton.
