2025 Australian open SF - [7] Novak Djokovic (SRB) v/s [2] Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev (GER)

[tx10is]

I think his leg definitely hurts. But he wasn’t retiring if he won that first set. Crowd knows it too.

yeah he just said in press conference he might of continued but it would still be uphill battle to finish

 

[NYTennisfan]

This makes Alcaraz look even worse for losing that match. Just terrible tactics to get so passive after the 1st set, have no idea what JCF and the team was thinking

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Who cares how many times a player wins an event. The crowd are there for themselves at their own expense and time. If they feel Djokovic isn’t genuine then they get to boo him. It’s part of sport and tennis is just that, a sport. A game. The players are entertainers and not entitled to respect just because they made loads of cash winning a game. They are not saving lives out there lol.

The way McEnroe and John Millman are so horrified and appalled he got booed cause he’s won 10 times is ludicrous. Millman even says I don’t care how much you paid for your ticket, easy for you to say John with your 8 million aussie dollars in prize money.

They’re acting like Novak is a paramedic being booed in hospital. He’s a tennis player who yeah, just let thousands of fans down who themselves paid thousands of dollars.

 

[DSH]

Tbh not very good signs for Zverev.

Yeah he gets a pass for the Finals without spending much energy, at the same time he played like a horrible pusher and barely won the set against a Djokovic who warped reality to manage 1st serve percentages in the negatives

He needs to entirely revamp everything if he wants to be competitive in the final

The guy plays passively on important points and that way you can't win a GS title against quality players.

 

[Lleytonstation]

He would have kept playing if he'd won the set. Everyone knows it.

As he should and even said. Doesn't mean he would have won the next set. It was inevitable.

 

[Mike Sams]

That poor crowd, no refunds. $400+ wasted ouch.

What if they all just witnessed the final Australian Open appearance of Novak Djokovic?

 

[Big_Dangerous]

Medium-well kangaroo meat got them feelin some kinda way.

Kangaroo fajitas

 

[I Am Finnish]

Danielle Collins would say SHUT UP!!!!

 

[Lleytonstation]

The way McEnroe and John Millman are so horrified and appalled he got booed cause he’s won 10 times is ludicrous. Millman even says I don’t care how much you paid for your ticket, easy for you to say John with your 8 million aussie dollars in prize money.

Oh stop it, most of those people in there are millionaires or very rich already. I don't give a flip about their tickets lol

 

[GhostDog]

I had no idea Djoker had a muscle tear. His performance in the first set was pretty miraculous, then.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

They are rich lol, I don't give a flip about them.

Not everyone is. I know many people who have saved up in life for one time to go to a slam SF. Imagine you’ve saved for years and that’s what you get.

 

[Better_Call_Raul]

For as much crap as the NYC and Paris crowds get for their behavior, the OZ crowd isn’t much if at all better. They booed RAFA when he injured his back in the 2014 F and now some of them booed Joker for retiring with whatever injury he has.

One does not retire immediately after flubbing set point in the tiebreaker. Had he stayed on and played 15 minutes in the second set and then retired there would be little to no jeering.

How the hell do you retire immediately after the end of a tiebreaker that you nearly won? It's a terrible look.

There's no way he retires immediately if he had won that tiebreaker.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Oh stop it, most of those people in there are millionaires or very rich already. I don't give a flip about their tickets lol

Oh god that is just a pathetic take and just not true.

 

[big ted]

Once he lost it he figured it wasn’t worth trying to comeback.

classy lol

 

[beltsman]

Broken down ******* never retired, even with bad back, no knees. He ate the last Wimbledon bagel with dignity.

Bagel > retirement

 

[SneederFeeder]

Djoker really destroyed himself for the tournament just to take out Alcaraz and then retire after 1 set the next match

What a trooper

 

[MichaelNadal]

Zverev has given me a gift. I can root against Sinner now bc no one needs to stop Djoko.

Hoping for a Shelton-Zverev Final, slightly rooting for Shelton bc American but will be happy with either outcome

Me too but rooting for Z just bc he has less time. Best case scenario is Sinner somehow loses tonight though absolutely

 

[Lleytonstation]

Not everyone is. I know many people who have saved up in life for one time to go to a slam SF. Imagine you’ve saved for years and that’s what you get.

A very awesome 90 minute first set of the greatest tennis player ever? Sounds fine.

 

[Hitman]

The way McEnroe and John Millman are so horrified and appalled he got booed cause he’s won 10 times is ludicrous. Millman even says I don’t care how much you paid for your ticket, easy for you to say John with your 8 million aussie dollars in prize money.

They’re acting like Novak is a paramedic being booed in hospital. He’s a tennis player who yeah, just let thousands of fans down who themselves paid thousands of dollars.

What would you like Djokovic to do? Just stand there and losing the next two sets love and love? Or continue to play on and hurt himself even more at 37 which would be fatal.

He clearly was injured in the quarters, but still gave the fans the best show of the tournament.

 

[Serve&Bash]

Djokovic didn't play that bad. People here are really exaggerating. Djokovic mucking it up on the tennis court especially during daytime matches is something that he has done his entire career. Usually he takes a medical timeout and then steamrolls his opponent the rest of the match so its disingenuous to act like nobody should be surprised by this.

This reminded me of a match between djokovic and davydenko at the davis cup over a decade ago. They both played a hard fought set that Davydenko edged out and Djokovic immediately retired and left the court in fury.

 

[Down_the_line]

Well not in a slam SF it’s actually incredibly rare. And the minimum tickets were well over $400 towards the thousands and thousands. People save for years for that, so yeah it would be awful. I honestly can’t think of the last time it happened in a slam SF. I know Henin retired in a final back in 2006.

in major semis I think these are the only ones:

1992 AO - Krajicek gave Edberg a walkover
2007 W - Djokovic retired vs Nadal

That's crazy. I would have thought there'd be more examples of it. I guess it's rare at this particular stage in a Slam but I'd just call this really bad luck then. Like you said, I feel for all them. It's still no reason to boo the player, especially when said player is the greatest to ever play on your court. A 10 time champion for heaven's sake.

 

[Big_Dangerous]

Fans paid good money and planned their vacations around this...yeah I'd be pissed but would never go to a live event for this very reason...

Not sure why, but it reminded of that Seinfeld episode where George is like “yeah I’m gonna get my car repaired at a dealership, why don’t i just flush my money down the toilet.”

 

[NYTennisfan]

The way McEnroe and John Millman are so horrified and appalled he got booed cause he’s won 10 times is ludicrous. Millman even says I don’t care how much you paid for your ticket, easy for you to say John with your 8 million aussie dollars in prize money.

They’re acting like Novak is a paramedic being booed in hospital. He’s a tennis player who yeah, just let thousands of fans down who themselves paid thousands of dollars.

They're booing a guy who was injured, it's idiotic and Zverev rightfully called it out. Boohoo to the fans who didn't get their moneys' worth, **** happens.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

What would you like Djokovic to do? Just stand there and losing the next two sets love and love? Or continue to play on and hurt himself even more at 37 which would be fatal.

He clearly was injured in the quarters, but still gave the fans the best show of the tournament.

Withdraw before the match or talk to the tournament and have a contingency for the paying fans for an exhibition match so fans aren’t left dudded or have retired against Alcaraz.

One of those 3.

 

[duaneeo]

So, Zverev has now made a USO final, a RG final, and now a AO final.

A defaulted Nole at the USO, a withdrawn Nole at RG, a retired Nole at the AO.

 

[jon70]

A bit more wincing and letting Zverev get ahead 3 or 4-love in the second set would've been a bit more diplomatic. Crowd probably thought he was pulling a Purcell. Still no excuse to boo him off when he may never come back.

 

[The Blond Blur]

classy lol

Nah, you just cropped out the rest of the post Joker was probably banking on ending the match as quickly as possible. After losing that first set he would have been out there for hours fighting an up hill battle.

 

[onyxrose81]

What would you like Djokovic to do? Just stand there and losing the next two sets love and love? Or continue to play on and hurt himself even more at 37 which would be fatal.

He clearly was injured in the quarters, but still gave the fans the best show of the tournament.

These people are insane. Didn’t believe he was injured but he very obviously is but all of a sudden it’s a problem when he doesn’t want to break his body like Nadal in a futile attempt.

Sorry to the crowd but nothing is guaranteed.

That should honestly be the last appearance from Novak at AO.

 

[tx10is]

give some credit to zverev that he forced joker to play a 1hr 26min set to which joker knew it was going to be too tough

 

[Hitman]

Withdraw before the match or talk to the tournament and have a contingency for the paying fans for an exhibition match so fans aren’t left dudded or have retired against Alcaraz.

One of those 3.

He chose to try, because he felt he could compete, but understood his body would not get him through it. Clearly with the way he was missing his serves, something was off.

They can have exho still, I am sure the fans will get something.

 

[Better_Call_Raul]

Kangaroo fajitas

Is kangaroo meat common there? Is kangaroo served at the stadium?

 

[mehdimike]

What would you like Djokovic to do? Just stand there and losing the next two sets love and love? Or continue to play on and hurt himself even more at 37 which would be fatal.

He clearly was injured in the quarters, but still gave the fans the best show of the tournament.

I think that was a rational decision by Novak. Rafa didn't do that against Fritz and I feel like he regrets it now. At +35 years old you shouldn't push your body beyond its limit.

 

[Hitman]

A defaulted Nole at the USO, a withdrawn Nole at RG, a retired Nole at the AO.

Well, yes...

 

[Down_the_line]

They paid a lot of money for just one set.

S*** happens. They got a raw deal. Like someone else in this thread said, this is why I don't pay copious amounts of money for live sports.

 

[Big_Dangerous]

Is kangaroo meat common there? Is kangaroo served at the stadium?

They definitely eat it, but not sure how common it is. I was there like 9 years ago and some places had it on the menu and i even saw kangaroo jerky. I can’t imagine the meat is as good as like chicken or beef, but apparently it’s a delicacy. I think they may be the only country that eats their national animal.

 

[MeatTornado]

Just stand there and losing the next two sets love and love?

First set was 7-6. There's a reason everyone was caught off guard by the retirement. He wasn't limping around on a broken leg, he was moving more than well enough to be competitive.

 

[Rosstour]

I think that was a rational decision by Novak. Rafa didn't do that against Fritz and I feel like he regrets it now. At +35 years old you shouldn't push your body beyond its limit.

I think Rafa should have withdrawn before that match. He didn't end up playing the next round, screwed Fritz and engendered negativity towards himself...and was really never the same afterwards

 

[odonogar]

Zverev didn’t look convincing with an injured Djoker. His rally placement was so passive and he missed so many BPs. Doesn’t bode well vs Sinner.

 

[Down_the_line]

Who cares how many times a player wins an event. The crowd are there for themselves at their own expense and time. If they feel Djokovic isn’t genuine then they get to boo him. It’s part of sport and tennis is just that, a sport. A game. The players are entertainers and not entitled to respect just because they made loads of cash winning a game. They are not saving lives out there lol.

"If they feel"

But they don't know anything. They're morons.

 

[Hitman]

First set was 7-6. There's a reason everyone was caught off guard by the retirement. He wasn't limping around on a broken leg, he was moving more than well enough to be competitive.

Only he knows what he was going through. And the fact he was missing so many first serves was already a tell tale sign something was off.

He tried his best of course, but clearly he wasn't up for it.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

He chose to try, because he felt he could compete, but understood his body would not get him through it. Clearly with the way he was missing his serves, something was off.

They can have exho still, I am sure the fans will get something.

Will get something? They won’t get a partial refund. At best they’ll get a drunk John McEnroe playing a match against John Millman at this rate.

I understand their anger. I wouldn’t personally boo but that was just utterly disappointing for all involved, including Novak.

 

[RSJfan]

One does not retire immediately after flubbing set point in the tiebreaker. Had he stayed on and played 15 minutes in the second set and then retired there would be little to no jeering.

How the hell do you retire at the end of a tiebreaker? It's a terrible look.

There's no way he retires immediately if he had won that tiebreaker.

Dr Raul (Historian. Rationalist. Empiricist. Pragmatist) can take a distanced, objective view even when to the detriment of his fav Egg. People paid a lot of money to see one Egg set. If they want to boo (which only a portion did for like 10 seconds ) that’s their prerogative and Egg isn’t going to go to pieces. The TV/streaming crowd can kiss Danielle’s rear. They didn’t take the time and spend the money to be there.

 

[mehdimike]

A defaulted Nole at the USO, a withdrawn Nole at RG, a retired Nole at the AO.

Oh, god you are right. That's some coincidence So basically he needs Novak in his path to get to the finals as it seems.
Also Novak lost in the 4th round of USO, didn't play the RG QF and now retired in the AO SF. Next would be Finals of Wimbledon, something might happen there IF he faces ZVEREV there

 

[Hitman]

Will get something? They won’t get a partial refund. At best they’ll get a drunk John McEnroe playing a match against John Millman at this rate.

I understand their anger. I wouldn’t personally boo but that was just utterly disappointing for all involved, including Novak.

I am talking about an exho match.

In sports, NOTHING is garanteed. Injuries can happen at any time.

 

[Big_Dangerous]

These people are insane. Didn’t believe he was injured but he very obviously is but all of a sudden it’s a problem when he doesn’t want to break his body like Nadal in a futile attempt.

Sorry to the crowd but nothing is guaranteed.

That should honestly be the last appearance from Novak at AO.

It’s like the quote from The Dark Knight Rises: “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.”

 

[Pheasant]

I’m still in shock. I really thought Djoker had this tourney and that cost me a lot of money. His play was phenomenal coming into this match. He shredded a pair of seeded players in straights, then had a routine win vs Carlos in 4 solid sets.

I will credit Zverev for making Djoker play all of those extra balls. He was solid today. He took Djoker’s injured leg out with that grinding 81 minute first set.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

I am talking about an exho match.

In sports, NOTHING is garanteed. Injuries can happen at any time.

Do you think Novak would have retired if he won that tiebreak?

Just like how he said he would probably have retired if he lost the set to Alcaraz?

 

[MeatTornado]

Only he knows what he was going through. And the fact he was missing so many first serves was already a tell tale sign something was off.

He tried his best of course, but clearly he wasn't up for it.

I'm sure he felt like crap and would've lost, but it wouldn't be 0 & 0.

 

[RSJfan]

These people are insane. Didn’t believe he was injured but he very obviously is but all of a sudden it’s a problem when he doesn’t want to break his body like Nadal in a futile attempt.

Sorry to the crowd but nothing is guaranteed.

That should honestly be the last appearance from Novak at AO.

Very true. That‘s part of what makes it exciting.

 

[Hitman]

Do you think Novak would have retired if he won that tiebreak?

I don't know. He might have played on. But considering his serving was the worst it has ever been, it would only be a matter of time before Zverev got the upper hand.