Lorenzo Musetti Struggles to Explain his Injury Struggles After Retiring From Two Sets Up Against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open

Lorenzo Musetti has experienced deja vu at the Australian Open 2026. The Italian was playing at the peak of his powers against Novak Djokovic and got two sets to love. However, disaster struck moments later when a leg problem completely crushed his dreams of a first Australian Open semifinal.

Djokovic, to his credit, considered Musetti as the deserved winner of this match in the post-match interview. On the other hand, Musetti struggled to come to terms with the injury, but did share a timeline of how the injury developed.

I felt it at the beginning of the second set. I felt something was off in my right leg. I kept playing because I was playing really, really well, but I felt the pain increasing, and the problem wasn’t going away. Finally, when I took the medical timeout for three minutes, I sat down, and when I started playing again, I felt it even more, and the pain level kept rising. So there’s not much to say about it. We did all the exams and tests before the season started to see and try to prevent these kinds of injuries, and then they say nothing came up, so honestly, I have no words to describe how I feel now and how difficult this injury is for me at the moment.

Lorenzo Musetti said in his Australian Open press conference (H/T: Punto de Break)

Australian Open 2026 is the year when one special backhand bid farewell. Stanislas Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, left Melbourne with great memories as the Swiss entertained the audience with his trademark one-handed backhand.

Musetti had a chance to bring more attention to the shot that is considered to be his finest. However, his dream was totally crushed by an unfortunate situation in the third set. Djokovic was up 3-1 when the Italian threw in the towel.

Lorenzo Musetti Believes its his Most Serious Injury Yet

Dark clouds are around Lorenzo Musetti after his devastating retirement from the Australian Open quarterfinals. However, the bad news doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon as the Italian has said that it is his most devastating injury yet.

Definitely [it’s the most serious injury]. Honestly, I never imagined the feeling of being up two sets to love against Novak, playing like that, having control of the match like that, and then being forced to retire. It’s something I definitely never imagined. Of course, it’s really painful. It’s the same leg [where he had the injury at Roland Garros], the right one, but I don’t feel like it’s in the same place. But it’s hard to say now, because, of course, I’ll have to examine it more closely and try to see and clarify what it is.

Lorenzo Musetti added

History has seen many similar episodes like this, especially in the case of Musetti. The Olympic bronze medalist was up two sets to love on Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Roland Garros, but his physical condition didn’t allow him to finish the match.

Last year, the injury situation happened twice in the penultimate moments for him. Firstly, it came in the Monte Carlo final, when he was leading Carlos Alcaraz by a set. Despite completing the match, his movement was hampered as the Spaniard went on to win.

Then, the second situation happened in the Roland Garros semifinals against Alcaraz. Once again, Musetti was up by a set. However, the disaster struck in the third set while the match was at one set all.

Lorenzo Musetti Reveals the Timeframe of the Injury

Italian tennis star Lorenzo Musetti has discussed the timeframe of the injury that crushed his dreams in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The Olympic bronze medalist was on the brink of beating Novak Djokovic in Melbourne.

Honestly, I played like that for almost the entire second set, but I was able to play, especially because my serve helped me a lot, and I tried to push a bit from the baseline, where I felt the ball quite well today. I tried to keep going, trying not to really think about the pain. But then, as I said in the first question, when I sat down for three minutes and relaxed—not in the best way, but I stayed in the ready position a little longer—the pain immediately started to increase.

Lorenzo Musetti said in his Australian Open press conference

There are many parallels of this development with the one that happened at Wimbledon five months ago. There was a situation with Grigor Dimitrov, while he was leading by two sets on Jannik Sinner. The Bulgarian retired in the third set after tearing his pectoral muscle.

I felt it at the beginning of the second set. I don’t remember exactly when, but I don’t remember exactly which game it was. I just remember that I was on the left side of the court, not on my bench, more or less. I hit a drop shot, a very ordinary one, and I think I lost the point, but I didn’t feel it immediately. I felt it when I started returning serve, that something wasn’t right, the height of my right leg, which was quite high anyway, and then nothing. Then he broke me, and then I broke him again. And in that game, I told my team that I felt like I was hurting. I held on for a set, but then, as I suspected, it became unbearable.

Lorenzo Musetti added

Sinner took advantage of that luck and went on to win his first Wimbledon title. Now, Djokovic is in a similar situation as he is in the semifinals. He escaped a disqualification in the third round against Botic Van De Zandschulp.

Then, he got a walkover against Jakub Mensik, who had defeated the Serb in the 2025 Miami Open final. Now, Djokovic has once again got out of jail as he awaits the winner between Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton in the Australian Open semifinal.

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