First semifinal of the Australian Open: the Serbian 10 times Melbourne champion stopped by an accident in the left thigh
The Australian Open by Novak Djokovic ends in the semifinal, among the whistles of the Australian audience of the Rod Laver Arena for the retreat of the former number one in the world at the end of the first set of the challenge against Alexander Zverev. The Serbian, after losing the partial to the tie break 7-5, raised the white flag due to that injury to the left thigh remedied in the quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz and who believed in a few, especially the Australian journalists who had accused him to pretend. But Nole, who hadn’t trained two days in a row, was not bluffing.
white flag
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Djokovic understood that he would not have any chance of comeback, given the physical conditions. The first (and unique) set of the game was very hard, one hour and 22 minutes: an eternity. Once that was lost, the mountain to climb was too high, against an opponent very on the ball. Zverev, who conquers the third slam final in his career (the first in Australia), played a first grandiose set: 76% of the first puts on the pitch, eight ace and over 20 winners, but above all the lucidity in the hottest moments of the game, such as the tie break. He served in a great way and exploited on the 6-5 of the tie-break the first set point with an excellent response: Nole sent an easy volée on the net, he did not even sit and went to embrace the rival, retiring from the dispute .
The audience of the Rod Laver Arena did not like, and many whistles made their way among the applause. Djokovic, who lived the entire Melbourne Slam to fight with the Australians, raised his thumbs in an ironic, annoyed way. Nole had never retired to a Slam semifinal, and certainly does not have to have cost him little, given that he must once again postpone the appointment with the historic 25th Slam. Until the forfait, it had however been an excellent Djokovic, so much so that he held head at the number two of the world and drag him to the tie break. After saving four break balls on 1-1, Nole had three (0-40) immediately after about the Zverev service, which saved them, and well, all. Sasha had another possibility of snatching the opponent’s service, but even there Djokovic was good at not giving in. The tie break was the logical consequence of an arm wrestling that could be truly beautiful, if it had not been for the injury of the Serbian, who must thus give up the eleventh final of the Australian Open, what would have been the thirty -eighth in his career In a slam. Zverev reaches the first final in Melbourne to the tenth attempt, becoming the second German of the story behind Boris Becker (ten) and on par with Michael Stich. Sasha lost the first two finals, both in the fifth set, in New York in 2020 against Thiem and last year at Roland Garros against Alcaraz. Now it’s up to Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton, from 9.30, to decide the second finalist of this edition of the Australian Open.
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