Tennis fans were entertained to plenty of action during the recently-concluded Australian Open 2025. But they were also served a reminder that the Big Three was going to be part of history soon. Novak Djokovic, who is the only remaining active member of the Big Three (which also consists of retired players Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), reached the semi-finals in Melbourne, but age proved to be a factor.
The 37-year-old retired hurt after the first set of his semi-finals vs eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev. Djokovic was also in visible pain during his quarter-final win vs Carlos Alcaraz, but many fans, including legend John McEnroe felt that he was acting to catch his opponent off guard. Meanwhile, after he withdrew from his semi-finals, the Rod Laver Arena crowd booed him and it required the intervention of Zverev, who urged them not to jeer at a legend like Djokovic. Later the Serbian ace also posted a photo of the scan of his muscle tear on social media. Evaluating the photo, ESPN’s Chris Fowler stated that Djokovic will miss some months due to his torn hamstring and could return to action for the French Open in May.
Fowler called it a deep tear, and pointed out, “That’s in the deepest part of the hamstring and the hamstring is a problem because it’s a big muscle. It’s deep in there, it’s hard to treat it properly.”
Meanwhile, McEnroe, who was also present, exclaimed, “Who can blame him at this point?”
‘The first one doing it is my father’: Novak Djokovic
During a recent interview with GQ Sports, Djokovic revealed that his father has been urging him to retire, along with the media and fans. “I feel like people are already writing my tennis obituary. The media, the fans… and I don’t know if he’ll like me saying this, but I’ll say it anyway: the first one doing it is my father,” he said.
“My father has been trying to get me to retire for some time, but he hasn’t been insistent. He respects my decision to move forward and, of course, understands why I want to continue, but he says to me: ‘What else do you want to do?’ He understands the amount and intensity of the pressure and tension out there, and the stress that affects my health, my body, and consequently, everyone around me, including him. That’s why he told me: ‘My son, start thinking about how you want to end this’,” he added.
Djokovic’s age was a massive factor last year too as he failed to win a single Grand Slam title. Although, he did win gold at the Paris Olympics 2024, defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
