After Novak Djokovic's controversial Australian Open retirement against Alexander Zverev, tennis insider trolls Serb's critics

Novak Djokovic's bid for a record-breaking 25th Major title came to an end in Melbourne on Friday (January 24) forced to retire after the first set of his semifinal against Alexander Zverev. Tennis insider Sasa Ozmo subsequently hit out at the 37-year-old's detractors for accusing him of faking his injuries in the past.

Djokovic had endured a relatively tough campaign before he walked on-court for his semifinal encounter at the 2025 Australian Open. The Serb had taken a medical time-out for his right knee during his quarterfinal win over Carlos Alcaraz. The injury, however, persisted into his outing against Zverev at the Rod Laver Arena.

The 24-time Major winner still managed to take the first set to a tiebreaker, which he dropped 5-7. The former World No. 1 retired from the match due to a right knee injury immediately afterward. The seventh seed's decision, however, wasn't received well by some fans in the Melbourne crowd.

Against that background, Sasa Ozmo, a prominent Serbian tennis journalist, took to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday. Ozmo inferred that it was ludicrous for fans to assume that Novak Djokovic was playing "mind games" with regard to his injury when it was serious enough for him to retire from his semifinal match.

"Mind games from Novak, retiring to confuse Zverev," Sasa Ozmo wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

Novak Djokovic's campaign in Melbourne was marred by his right knee issues towards the end. For those unaware, the 37-year-old canceled his practice session on Thursday (January 23) ahead of his clash against Alexander Zverev.

Although many fans were skeptical of Djokovic's injury, it has now become painfully clear that he was not on top of his physical conditioning this fortnight.

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Novak Djokovic reveals details about his right knee injury: "It's a muscle tear"

Novak Djokovic talks to media in Melbourne following SF exit (Source: Getty)

The 24-time Major winner spoke about the extent of his knee injury during his post-match press conference at the 2025 Australian Open on Friday. The Serb disclosed that his right knee had a muscle tear, claiming that he didn't have enough time to recover from it following his last-eight victory. He told the media:

"It's a muscle tear. Two years ago, I have managed that better. On the court, it didn't bother me as much. This time, that wasn't the case. So, in this kind of instances, you have to try and do as much as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time, and that was the case. Yeah, I had an extra day, so two days no match, so I thought it's going to be good enough maybe. But that wasn't the case, unfortunately."

With his most recent loss, the 10-time Australian Open champion has lost his last two semifinal matches in Melbourne. He went out to eventual champion Jannik Sinner in four sets last year, marking his first last-four exit Down Under.