By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Monday, January 27, 2025
Picture credit score: Darrian Traynor/Getty
Novak Djokovic waved goodbye to followers strolling off Rod Laver Area after retiring from the Australian Open semifinals.
The Grand Slam king has not made his ultimate farewell to Melbourne, says Australian Open Match Director Craig Tiley.
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Assembly the media in Melbourne the day after Jannik Sinner swept Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to efficiently defend his Australian Open, Tiley was requested to evaluate Djokovic’s AO future.
The 37-year-old Serbian famous person suffered a muscle tear to his left leg that pressured his retirement from the AO semifinals after dropping the primary set to Zverev, 7-6.
Tiley is assured 10-time AO champion Djokovic will return to Melbourne Park in 2026.
“There was some speak about Novak [not returning to the AO]—Novak will return,” Tiley advised the media on Monday. “He leaves as we speak and he is along with his household, his staff left on Friday.
“We’ll see Novak again and I sit up for catching up with him within the subsequent couple of weeks.”
Requested immediately if his semifinal retirement was his ultimate AO match, Djokovic stated if he is wholesome, he positively needs to return in 2026, however conceded it is doable he has performed his final match at Melbourne Park.
“I do not know. There’s a probability. Who is aware of?” Djokovic stated in his semifinal post-match presser. “I will simply need to see how the season goes. I wish to hold going.
“However whether or not I’ll have a revised schedule or not for the subsequent 12 months, I am unsure. I usually like to return to Australia to play. I’ve had the most important success in my profession right here. So if I am match, wholesome, motivated, I do not see a purpose why I would not come. However there’s all the time an opportunity, yeah.”
Match Director Tiley defended Djokovic’s retirement saying the 24-time Grand Slam champion did all the pieces in his energy to compete.
“He had warm-up that morning and his staff had been assured that he’d have the ability to get on the market and play,” Tiley advised the media. “I have never met a participant that does as a lot pre-preparation and has as huge a give attention to it as Novak does, and he would do all the pieces he probably can to get on the court docket.”
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