"No guy I respect more" - Alexander Zverev reveals how Novak Djokovic helped him during mental struggles after shocking Australian Open conclusion

Alexander Zverev has expressed his admiration for Novak Djokovic following the Serb's shock retirement at the 2025 Australian Open. After the German clinched the high-quality opening set, the Serb stunned the tennis fraternity, including his opponent, by going for the ceremonious post-match handshake.

The tennis world awaited the highly anticipated clash of titans with bated breath. Zverev, looking to win the elusive Major, and Djokovic, going for an unprecedented 25th, did not disappoint kicking things off with some power-packed tennis. As the match went on, the level seemed to increase exponentially. Eighty-two minutes later, the World No. 2 clinched the opening set after winning the tiebreaker 7-5.

However, the 24-time Major champion's left leg injury, a muscle tear, seemed to have gotten the better of him as he decided to retire after the opening set. During the on-court interview, Zverev explained that he sensed Djokovic struggling during their rallies toward the latter part of their short-lived battle.

"No But I mean like of course you know there's some difficulties and the longer you continue playing, then maybe the worse it gets in the tiebreak he was maybe not moving as well as in the entire first set, but I thought we had extremely long rallies, extremely difficult physical rallies in the tiebreak I did see him struggle maybe a bit more," Alexander Zverev said. (1:30)

Although he was happy to be in his maiden Australian Open final, Alexander Zverev had nothing but respect for Novak Djokovic, a close friend he could call up anytime despite being one of the all-time greats of the game. Continuing his thoughts, Zverev revealed how the 37-year-old helped with his mental struggles and reiterated his respect for the Serb.

"But still look, of course, I'm happy on one side to be in the final of the Australian Open. I'm in the final of a Grand Slam but on the other hand. I'm being 100% honest. I have, there's no guy on the tour that I respect more than Novak. He's been, he's been one of, one of my closest friends on tour, whenever I struggled, I could always text him, I could always call him, I could always ask him for advice," he continued.

"I was speaking to him for hours last year in Shanghai when I was really struggling mentally a little bit after the US Open defeat in the quarterfinals, and he's always somebody that helped a lot, and I wanted it to be a top 5 set match as well, but you know it is how it is. He's won this tournament 10 times and again I have nothing but respect for him," Zverev added.

Alexander Zverev enters the third Grand Slam final of his career

2025 Australian Open - Day 13 - Source: Getty

Alexander Zverev is into his third Grand Slam final and his first at the Australian Open. He has come close on both of his previous two chances but ended up losing the nail-biting thrillers.

Zverev made it to the final of the 2020 US Open, where he played his friend Dominic Thiem. The Austrian did the unthinkable when he came back from a set down to win the event 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6). His second chance came at the French Open last year where Carlos Alcaraz overturned a 1-2 deficit to win 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

Alexander Zverev has often been dubbed the best player to never win a Grand Slam. However, on Sunday, January 26, he will have a chance to change that narrative when he faces the winner of Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton in the showpiece clash.