Novak Djokovic faced boos from sections of the Rod Laver Arena crowd after retiring injured during his Australian Open semi-final against Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

The 37-year-old Serbian star, who was chasing his 11th Australian Open title and a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam victory, pulled out after losing the first set 7-6 (7-5) in a grueling 80 minutes.

Djokovic, whose left leg was heavily taped following a muscle tear sustained in his quarter-final match against Carlos Alcaraz, explained his decision after the match. “I did everything I possibly could to manage the muscle tear,” he said. “Towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much to handle for me.”

The critical moment came when Djokovic netted a volley on set point. He immediately walked over to shake Zverev’s hand and waved to the crowd with a double thumbs up, despite the audible boos from some fans.

“I knew even if I won the first set, it was going to be a huge uphill battle for me to stay physically fit enough to compete with him for two, three, or four hours,” Djokovic admitted. “I don’t think I had that today in the tank.”

Zverev, the tournament’s second seed, is still in pursuit of his maiden Grand Slam title after two previous final losses. The German will now face either Italian top seed Jannik Sinner or American 21st seed Ben Shelton in Sunday’s final.

While the match ended on a controversial note, Djokovic’s withdrawal highlighted the physical toll of his pursuit of tennis greatness, leaving fans divided over their reactions to the abrupt conclusion.