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Novak Djokovic ruled out for ‘couple months’ due to injury, eyes French Open return; to skip Qatar tournament
Novak Djokovic is reportedly set to miss the upcoming Qatar Open due to injury, and will be making his return at Roland Garros.
Before the Australian Open 2025 semi-finals, it looked like it was going to be Novak Djokovic's campaign. The Serbian was chasing a record-extending 11th Grand Slam title in Melbourne, and looked like he was trying to prove a point. But then his run came to a sudden abrupt halt in the semi-finals as he retired hurt after losing the first set against eventual runners-up Alexander Zverev.
The Serbian was in visible pain against Carlos Alcaraz during his quarter-final victory. But many, including tennis legend John McEnroe, accused him of faking it to catch his opponent off guard. Meanwhile, ahead of the semis, he cancelled all his training sessions, and had his first and only practice 90 minutes before the match.
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After the first set, he withdrew and picked his bags to leave. But shockingly was booed by the Rod Laver Arena crowd, that even Zverev had to pacify them during his courtside interview and ask them not to jeer a legend like Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic injury update
During the post-match conference, Djokovic revealed that it was a muscle tear, and that he would get it checked when he would reach Europe. According to ESPN's Chris Fowler, the World No. 7 is set to miss a ‘couple months’ due to a torn hamstring, and will return in action for the French Open 2025 in May.
After the match, Djokovic even took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a photo of his X-ray scan, in response to experts stating that he was faking his injury.
Speaking on-air during the Australian Open final between Jannik Sinner and Zverev, Fowler said, “That’s no joke, that’s a pretty deep tear.”
“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. The hamstring doesn’t have great blood flow so it’s harder to treat it than some other muscles.
“You can’t rush a hamstring, you’ve got to be very sure before going back out there. Typically if you’re looking at injuries like that in sports, you’re looking at a couple months,” he added.
McEnroe, who was also present on the show, said, “So he’ll be ready for the French. He said he only cares about majors. Who can blame him at this point?”
Since his glorious 2023 US Open title run, Djokovic has failed to win a single Grand Slam title. Although, he did win gold at the Paris Olympics last year, defeating Alcaraz in the final. It also looks like Djokovic will miss the upcoming Qatar Open, where he was expected to participate in February.
