It was an emotional day for Serbia’s Novak Djokovic as he pulled out of the Australian Open during his semifinal match against Alexander Zverev on Friday (Jan 24). Playing at the iconic Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park, Djokovic sighted injury concerns after losing the opening set to Zverev, handing a walkover to his German counterpart. After the match, the Melbourne crowd was seen booing the 24-time Grand Slam champion, upon which Zverev reacted and asked them to stop.
Zverev reacts to Melbourne crowd’s reaction
“Very first thing I want to say is please guys don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,” Zverev said during an on-court interview.
“I know that everybody paid for the tickets and wanted to see a five-set match but you’ve to understand Novak is somebody who has in the last 20 years given absolutely everything of his life to the sport. He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, he has won this tournament with a hamstring tear, if he cannot continue a tennis match it really means he cannot continue a tennis match, so please be respectful and really show some love for Novak."
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The 38-year-old lost the opening set 7-6 in the tiebreak and subsequently decided to walk over, as the crowd met the decision with mixed reactions. As Djokovic walked out of the Rod Laver Arena with coach Andy Murray in the frame, the crowd did not greet him well. However, Zverev was not impressed and asked the crowd to respect the 10-time Australian Open men’s singles champion.
As a consequence of the walkover, Zverev will now meet the winner of Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton in the final. The Italian is the defending champion at the Australian Open in men’s single and will look to continue his hot streak in Melbourne.