Novak Djokovic put it all out there.
The Serbian tennis star posted a scan of his injured left hamstring on social media early Sunday after being booed at the Australian Open when he quit playing one set into his semifinal. He said at his news conference that he had a torn muscle, but faced criticism from fans on soecial media who questioned how serious the injury was.
Djokovic seemingly let the backlash get to him, as he posted the picture of the MRI taken Saturday on X to prove the doubters wrong.
“Thought I’d leave this here for all the sports injury ‘experts’ out there,” he wrote.
The veteran tennis star did not offer any additional information, such as the exact diagnosis he might have received or any timeline for his recovery.
The 37-year-old Djokovic stopped his match against Alexander Zverev after dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker on Friday. After shaking hands with Zverev and the chair umpire, Djokovic gathered his equipment and started walking toward the locker room.
Some of the spectators in Rod Laver Arena jeered him. Djokovic put both of his thumbs up before leaving.
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During his on-court interview, Zverev chastised those who booed Djokovic.
“I know that everybody paid for tickets and everybody wants to see hopefully a great five-set match,” Zverev said. “But you’ve got to understand — Novak Djokovic is somebody that has given this sport, for the past 20 years, absolutely everything of his life.”
Djokovic had been hurt late in the first set of his previous match, a four-set victory against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
Djokovic finished that match with tape on his upper left leg and had a similar wrap at the start against Zverev.
“I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had,” Djokovic said at his news conference Friday.
“Towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain,” he said. “It was too much, I guess, to handle for me at the moment. Unfortunate ending, but I tried.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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