Carlos Alcaraz takes huge swipe at Novak Djokovic’s claim of retiring from their Australian Open quarterfinal clash
Novak Djokovic took a medical timeout during his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz, which he won in four sets.
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Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz (Images via X)
Did Carlos Alcaraz too think Novak Djokovic faked an injury? The Spaniard was up against the 10-time Australian Open champion in the quarterfinal and beat him in the first set during which the Serb was seen struggling due to some pain.
Djokovic took a medical timeout, and when he came back, his left thigh was heavily strapped. Alcaraz, following the win in the first set, tried his all to dumbfound Djokovic by running all over the court and occasionally going for drop shots. But the Serb had answers to almost all of Alcaraz’s shots.
Alcaraz, who made 40 unforced errors to Djokovic’s 27, eventually lost the match in over three hours with scores of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. When Djokovic was in pain, many thought he was simply feigning an injury and now Alcaraz gave his verdict on the same. Djokovic also later claimed that he would have retired from the match after the second set.
Everyone saw that Djokovic was struggling to move. In the third and fourth sets, I didn’t see any of that. Someone who thinks about retiring from a match wouldn’t have played the way he did afterward. I think even if he had lost the second set, I would have had to sweat to beat him. I won’t go into details, but I don’t think he would have given up.
Carlos Alcaraz said at the press conference
Had the 21-year-old won the match, he would have gone one step closer to completing the Career Grand Slam, which was one of his main goals for the 2025 season. Alcaraz, who has not yet reached the Australian Open semifinals, lost to Djokovic for the second time in a row following his defeat in the 2024 Paris Olympics final.
Novak Djokovic to lock horns with Alexander Zverev
After fending off Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic scheduled a meeting against Alexander Zverev in his 50th Grand Slam semifinal. The German, who is still searching for his first Major, defeated 12th seed Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals.
Zverev has never made it to the final of the Australian Open, though he reached the last four multiple times. The two-time Grand Slam finalist has met Djokovic 12 times and has defeated him in four of those matches.
The last time Zverev and Djokovic faced each other was in the semifinal of the 2023 Cincinnati Masters, which the 37-year-old won in straight sets. They will be squaring off against each other at the Australian Open for the second time, after their meeting in the quarterfinal in 2021, which Djokovic won.
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Gouri Das
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