Tennis star Novak Djokovic was booed by some sections of the crowd after retiring injured from his Australian Open semifinal against German Alexander Zverev.
Djokovic, who was aiming for an all-time standalone record of 25 major titles, quit after losing the first set 7-6 in a tie break, walking over to shake Zverev's hand.
The 37-year-old Serbian had torn a muscle in his leg during his four-set quarter-final win over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday, when lunging for a drop shot. He was wearing a large bandage on his upper left leg on Friday.
"I just started feeling more and more pain," Djokovic said. "It was too much to handle for me." He went on: "I knew even if I won the first set, that it's going to be a huge uphill battle for me to stay physically fit enough to stay with him in the rallies for two, three, four hours."
Some of the 15,000 people inside the Rod Laver Arena booed Djokovic as he retired, leading Zverev to call for respect for his opponent, who has won the Australian open a record 10 times, including while carrying injuries.
"Please guys, don't boo when a player is injured," Zverev said in his post match on-court interview. "Novak Djokovic is someone who has given absolutely everything to tennis," he went on. "If he cannot continue this match, it means he really cannot continue." Zverev, 27, said he hadn't noticed that Djokovic was injured, saying it was a "high level set."
With 24, Djokovic has won more grand slam singles titles than any other male player, two more than Rafael Nadal and four more than Roger Federer. He also has one more than Serena Williams, but is tied with Australian former player Margaret Court, who won 24 major singles titles. Last year, Djokovic won his first Olympic Gold at the Paris 2024 games, leaving him with little left to achieve in the sport.
As soon as he beat Alcaraz on Tuesday, Djokovic emotionally embraced British ex-player Andy Murray, whom he has recently been employing as his coach, after over a decade of on-court rivalry. "I feel more and more connected with Andy every day," Djokovic said this week.
On Sunday, Zverev will play defending champion and No 1 seed Jannik Sinner in the final, after the Italian beat American 21st seed Ben Shelton in the other semifinal. Shelton, 22, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and now lives in Florida, was leading in the first set, where he broke Sinner's serve twice, but ended up losing 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-2. Sinner, who is 23, suffered from cramps late on in the match, but managed to secure victory.
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