MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic calmly walked up to Alexander Zverev, shook hands and told him he was done.
A packed Rod Laver Arena pacing themselves for a typical five hour Djokovic epic gasped in disbelief.
Some dared boo the 10 time Australian Open champion in his own kingdom.
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Novak Djokovic. Getty
Djokovic then calmly walked to a packed press conference room and explained that he was "hot headed" and "upset" by a worsening muscle tear that ended his dream of surpassing Margaret Court's record of 24 grand slams and further cementing his GOAT status.
"I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I have and, yeah, medications and I guess the strapping and the physio work helped to some extent today," the Serbian explained.
"But yeah, towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain, and it was too much to handle for me at the moment.
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"So, yeah, unfortunate ending, but I tried."
Djokovic seemed to be moving pretty well to the untrained eye.
Given he hobbled around and still dispatched Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals, it seemed scarcely believable he would pull the pin just like that.
Djokovic said he may have tried to continue if he had won the first set tiebreak but "it was just getting worse and worse."
"To stay physically fit enough to stay with him in the rallies, you know, for another god knows what, two, three, four hours, you know, I don't think I had that unfortunately today in the tank," he said.
Djokovic said he would return to Europe and get the injury properly assessed.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia. AP
His next tournament is scheduled for Doha in less than a month's time and he was unsure how long he would be sidelined for.
Everything is up in the air again for this great, ailing champion, including his brand new coaching partnership with Sir Andy Murray and whether he will even compete at his beloved Melbourne Park again.
"We both were disappointed with what just happened, so we didn't talk about that, about the the future steps," the 37-year-old said.
Novak Djokovic hugs his coach Andy Murray. Getty
"We're so fresh off the court, so I'll definitely have a chat with Andy and thank him for being here with me and see. Give him my feedback, which is, of course, positive and see how he feels, and we make the next step.
"We're just still hot headed and disappointed, so it's kind of hard to switch the page and start talking about the next steps. I think we both need to cool off a little bit and then we'll have a chat."
Djokovic has had ridiculous, unprecedented success in Melbourne but also a lot of turbulence.
He was literally deported during the pandemic, refused an on court interview with Jim Courier, argued with fans, and now this.
"I cannot throw away all the incredible memories and results and achievements that I have achieved here over the years just because this year I retired in the semi-finals," he said.
"Now, freshly off the court and disappointed and upset, but at the same time Australia always will stay in my head, in my heart. It is the best land that I've ever played and ever performed on."
He conceded "there is a chance" he had just played his last point at the Australian Open.
"Who knows. I'll just have to see how the season goes. I want to keep going but whether I'm going to have a revised schedule or not for the next year, I'm not sure," Djokovic said.
"I normally like to come to Australia and play and I've had the biggest success in my career here, so if I'm fit, healthy, motivated, I don't see a reason why I wouldn't come. But there's always a chance… I'll keep going, you know, I'll keep striving to win more slams and as long as I feel that I want to put up with all of this, I'll be around."
Alexander Zverev of Germany. Getty
Djokovic – who did not win a grand slam title last year but did claim Olympic Games gold – said he will be supporting Zverev in Sunday's final.
The German is yet to win a grand slam title and will meet the winner of Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton in the decider.
"I wish Sascha (Zverev) all the best, you know, he deserves his first slam. And I'll be cheering for him, hopefully he can get it here."
