Martina Navratilova has weighed in on Novak Djokovic receiving a negative send-off from the Australian Open crowd after his shocking mid-match retirement in the semifinals. Navratilova also shared her perspective on the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s potential to win more Major titles.
Djokovic’s highly anticipated semifinal clash against Alexander Zverev got off to a thrilling start, with the German clinching the opening set 7-6(5) after an intense one-hour and 21-minute battle. While the match appeared poised to continue in similarly riveting fashion, the Serb made the difficult decision to retire from the clash after struggling with a left leg injury.
However, the 37-year-old’s decision was not well received by the spectators at the packed Rod Laver Arena, as they loudly booed the 24-time Grand Slam champion while he left the court. Zverev even chastised the audience in his on-court interview after reaching his maiden Australian Open final, urging them to “be respectful.”
With the Australian Open crowd’s conduct drawing immense backlash from the tennis community, Martina Navratilova has joined in to condemn the audience for booing the Serb. During an appearance on the Tennis Channel, the 18-time Grand Slam champion called the behavior “disgusting” and emphasized that no one would have wanted to finish the match more than Novak Djokovic.
“What I’m really upset about is the crowd booing Novak. Seriously? Nobody wanted to finish that match more than Novak. Nobody. And then they boo. I mean seriously, it’s just disgusting,” Navratilova said.
The former World No. 1 also highlighted Djokovic’s “diminishing returns” at the Majors since his triumph at the 2023 US Open. Although Navratilova acknowledged the Serb’s stellar run to last year’s Wimbledon final shortly after undergoing knee surgery, she asserted that the 37-year-old’s future chances would depend on how well he recovered from his injury, both physically and emotionally.
“Exactly, the fact that he could come back, I did not see that coming. I had the same knee injury and it takes a while to get over that one. But again, you know, that’s diminishing returns isn’t it,” she said.
Only one final out of last five Majors when he won three out of four the year before. We’ll see how he can bounce back from this one physically and then we’ll see if he has it still emotionally,” she added.
