Novak Djokovic was beaten. Lorenzo Musetti was faster and hitting the ball consistently more sharply. Plus, the younger player was motivated to, as he put it before the match, get some revenge against the all-time great for losing to him in nine of their previous ten meetings. He was ready to beat the Serb at the Australian Open.
In the first two sets, Musetti was not just sneaking past Djokovic; he was dominating the 24-time Grand Slam winner. He took the sets 6-4 6-3. While Djokovic struggled to find his game, having nine winners but 18 unforced errors in the first set alone, the Italian was playing clean and efficient tennis.
At the start of the third set, however, everything changed. Musetti felt a pain in his right leg, but tried to keep playing. He was broken to open the set, and in the third game was about to have the same occur. At that point, he had enough. He took off his headband, walked to the net, shook Djokovic's hand, and retired.
Novak Djokovic gets past Lorenzo Musetti after the Italian retires at the Australian Open
The Australian Open semifinals should have featured Lorenzo Musetti and not Novak Djokovic in 2026, but they won't. Sometimes a player needs a little luck on their journey to winning a major, even if that means their opponent suffering an unfortunate injury. That happened for Jannik Sinners at Wimbledon in 2025 when he was being beaten by Grigor Dimitrov before Dimitrov was hurt.
But make no mistake, Djokovic did not feel as if he was deserving of the victory. As the Serb often does, he gave credit where it was due. He might be the best player ever, but he also understands that on certain days, he might not be the best player during one of his matches.
Speaking during his on-court post-match interview, the Serb said, "I don't know what to say except that I feel really sorry for him. He was the far better player. I was on my way home tonight. These kinds of things happen in sport. It happened to me a few times. He should have been a winner today, no doubt."
Due to the retirement and a previous walkover against Jakub Mensik, Novak Djokovic will be relatively fresh late in the Australian Open. He is as rested as a player could be. Djokovic will next take on Jannik Sinner in one of the semis. Sinner is the two-time defending champion in Melbourne. The other semifinal will pit Alexander Zverev against Carlos Alcaraz.