DJOKOVIC SHARES PHOTO OF HAMSTRING TEAR, AIMS DIG AT 'INJURY EXPERTS'

Novak Djokovic has shared the extent of his serious hamstring tear, firing back at "injury experts" who doubted his physical issue.

The 37-year-old suffered the injury during the first set of his quarter-final against Carlos Alcaraz, miraculously finding a way to defeat the Spaniard from a set down despite requiring a lengthy medical timeout.

Djokovic hadn't hit a ball until one hour before his semi-final against Alexander Zverev, but the pain took its toll on the 24-time Grand Slam winner, retiring after dropping the first-set tiebreak.

"I did everything I possibly [could] to basically manage the muscle tear that I had," Djokovic told the media after his sudden withdrawal.

"Medications...the strap, and the physio work helped to some extent today. But...towards the end of that first set, I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much, I guess, to handle for me at the moment."

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There had been suggestions that the former world No.1 was faking the injury to put off Alcaraz and disrupt his momentum.

Djokovic, though, responded to his critics in the best way possible, offering proof of his hamstring injury via an X post with the caption, "Thought I'd leave this here for all the sports injury 'experts' out there."

The Serbian was booed off Rod Laver Arena after retiring hurt in his semi-final, displaying a sarcastic thumbs up to the crowd.

It’s not the first time Djokovic has made headlines during this year’s Australian Open, refusing to participate in an on-court interview due to comments made by Channel 9 presenter Tony Jones.

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