A wounded Novak Djokovic has overcome a groin injury to defeat Carlos Alcaraz in a remarkable quarter-final at the Australian Open on Tuesday night.
The 10-time champion looked down and out when he appeared to hurt his groin in the first set, but incredibly bounced back to seal a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory just before the clock hit 1am.
Djokovic hobbled off the court with medical staff when trailing 5-4 in the first set and appeared long odds to finish the match, let alone win it.
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The 37-year-old was struggling to move and winced after the majority of points during the second set as experts wondered if he’d be able to continue.
But tennis great John McEnroe wasn’t buying it, noting previous accusations that the Serb has overplayed an injury.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this routine. Don’t be fooled,” he said.
Djokovic hobbled around during the second set, but somehow hung in there and then went for broke to level the match at a set apiece.
He then suddenly regained his movement during a wild third set that featured three breaks of serve and went the way of the Serb.
By the time the fourth set came around, Djokovic was seemingly back to full fitness and Alcaraz was making countless unforced errors.
“Djokovic is moving like he is feeling no pain at all,” Jim Courier said in commentary after the Serb chased down multiple balls, including one at full stretch in a sliding open stance.
After the match, Djokovic said he might have retired if he lost the second set.
“I don’t want to reveal too much because I’m still in the tournament, obviously, but the medication started to kick in and it helped no doubt,” he said.
“I had to take another dose, this sounds awful … taking another dose. If I lost the second set, I don’t know if I would continue playing.
“But I felt better and better and managed to play a great couple of games to end out the second set and then I saw Carlos was hesitant a little bit at the back of the court and I took my chances and started to feel better and move better, so it did not bother me or create any hindrance towards the end of the match, only in the second set, and obviously the medications started to release, I will see with the reality is tomorrow morning.”
If Djokovic is able to win a record-extending 11th Australian Open title, it would make him the most successful singles player of all-time.
The seventh seed is locked on 24 major titles, the same number as Margaret Court won during her singles career from 1960 to 1973.
He will now turn his attentions to a semi-final against Alexander Zverev, while Alcaraz will wonder how this match slipped away.
Bidding to become the youngest man to complete the career grand slam, the Spaniard was well below his best and seemingly distracted by what was happening on the other side of the net.
The match lived up to its billing in the early stages with a number of high-quality rallies as the former world No.1s went toe-to-toe.
But when serving at 4-4, Djokovic finished a rally in a world of a pain.
“He has gone down on his haunches. Turned it to his team and gone no, something went,” Todd Woodbridge said. “He is walking to get a towel, hopefully that is it.”
“Oh boy, this is not good news,” Courier added.
Djokovic stayed out on the court, but was wincing after every point.
He eventually dropped his serve and immediately called for a medical time out before leaving the court with physios. It appeared he was suffering from a groin issue.
Djokovic returned to the court with strapping on his left thigh, but couldn’t stop Alcaraz from serving out the set.
The Serb held serve to love in the first game of the second set, but still looked hampered as he tried to keep rallies to a minimum with net approaches.
But despite being wounded, the now ultra-aggressive Djokovic remarkably broke Alcaraz to go up 2-0, thanks to a string of massive groundstrokes.
The Spaniard responded to get the set back on level pegging as Djokovic appeared to be just hanging on in every point.
However, he wasn’t about to throw in the towel just yet and incredibly won eight straight points to win the second set and level the match.
The third set followed a similar pattern to the second with Djokovic getting an early break and maintaining his advantage as the injury issue appeared to dissipate.
He won the set after a wild final point (which you see in the player at the top of the page) in which he showed no signs of discomfort.
Djokovic broke Alcaraz in the first game of the fourth set and from that point there was only going to be one winner.
The pair still wowed the crowd with some breathtaking tennis, including a stunning 33-shot rally when Alcaraz was facing break point at 2-4.
Alcaraz threw everything at Djokovic in the closing stages and had two break points at 3-4, but couldn’t convert.
He again pushed in the final game to get it to 30-30, but the Serb had all the answers and sealed one of the greatest wins of his career at the first time of asking.
“I just wish this match today was a final,” Djokovic said.
“One of the most epic matches I have played on this court, on any court really.”