‘Absolutely ludicrous’: Australian Open fans trashed for booing Novak Djokovic after shock retirement | tennis news

Novak Djokovic was looking as good as ever in the first set of his 2025 Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev, even looking well ahead of the German for large parts of it, and so it was a shock to everyone when he retired as soon as he lost the tie-breaker. While he was applauded as he walked, there was a sizeable minority of fans at the Rod Laver Arena that booed him and Djokovic could be seen stopping, turning and putting his thumbs up towards them before leaving the court. It prompted Zverev to ask the crowd to not boo a player who has retired and American legend John McEnroe later berated the fans as well.

“They can’t possibly be booing him. Please!” he stated while doing commentary for the host broadcasters. “He’s won this 10 times. I mean, come on. I mean, clearly something was up,” McEnroe later said on Channel Nine.

“The guy is a battler. I mean, him and Rafa [Nadal] have dug deeper than any two players I have seen. So to do that [boo]because he decided that he couldn’t go on after what he’s done here I thought was absolutely ludicrous, honestly. That was almost as depressing as seeing the end of the match,” he said.

This isn’t the first time this year that crowd behavior has taken centre-stage at the Australian Open. American Danielle Collins had run-ins with the crowd. Collins was heckled by fans in her second round match against home favorite Destanee Aiava and she blew kisses to the crowd after winning the match. Djokovic later commended her for giving it back to the crowd. A match also had to moved to a different court after fans grew too loud at the only court at Melbourne Park which was equipped with a bar – popularly known as the “party Court”.

Zverev calls out fans for booing Djokovic

Zverev asked fans to not boo a player when they leave the court injured, especially in the case of Djokovic who was chasing an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title and a record-extending 11th Australian Open.

“Please, guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with an injury. I know everyone paid for tickets and everyone wants to see a five-set semi-final but Novak has given absolutely everything of his life to the sport the last 20 years,” Zverev said as Djokovic made his way out of the court.

* “He has won this tournament with an abdominal tear. He has won this tournament with a hamstring tear. If he cannot continue a tennis match, he cannot. Be respectful. Really, show some love for Novak as well,” said Zverev.