Alexander Zverev has a chance of winning his maiden Grand Slam title after progressing to the Australian Open final. 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic retired in the semi-final clash against Zverev. The Serbian decided to call off the match after hitting the volley into the net with Zverev on set point.
Alexander Zverev will now take on Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final on Sunday.
On Friday evening, Djokovic took to social media to say that he wishes to see Zverev win the Australian Open as he genuinely “deserves” it.
The former World No.1 also stated that he tried his best to recover for the semi-final against Zverev but could not.
“Tried to recover for today’s match but I could only push so far. Nevertheless, positives to take out of this year’s Aus Open. Congratulations to @AlexZverev for making another GS final,” Djokovic wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“I wish you to win the title because you deserve it, my friend,” he added.
After losing the first set, Djokovic informed Zverev that he could not go on. He then shook hands with the chair umpire before exiting.
Zverev’s grand gesture for Djokovic
After reaching his third Grand Slam final, Alexander Zverev won a lot of praise on social media after he came to Novak Djokovic’s aid and asked the crowd at the Rod Laver Arena to not boo the Serbian.
After Djokovic decided to retire from the match, the crowd started booing. The former World No.1 who was walking off the court with his arms raised, seemingly reacted to the boos by seemingly giving a double thumbs up.
“The very first thing I want to say is, please guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury. I know that everybody paid for tickets and wants to see hopefully a great five-set match. But you got to understand Novak Djokovic is someone who has given to the sport over the past 20 years, absolutely everything of his life,” said Zverev.
“He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, won this tournament with a hamstring injury. So if he cannot continue a tennis match, it really means he cannot continue a tennis match. So please be respectful and really, show some love for Novak as well,” added the German.
