After coming back from the dead against Carlos Alcaraz, 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic is receiving backlash, accused of faking injury to sway momentum.
The 37-year-old exited the court down 4-5 in the first set, right before Alcaraz was primed to serve for the set, who received a medical timeout due to an apparent groin injury.
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Djokovic played through the contest with strapping around his upper left leg, turning the match around to claim a 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory, securing his 50th Grand Slam semi-final.
At the end of set three, Alcaraz appeared to mock his opponent's injury claim, sarcastically limping as he made his way to the bench.
Chatting with Jim Courier on-court, Djokovic revealed he might not have completed the match if he found himself trailing two sets.
"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."
During commentary, the legendary John McEnroe wasn't buying it, saying: "This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this routine. Don’t be fooled."
Fans on social media were quick to judge the 24-time major winner.
One comment read: "Novak Djokovic is a master manipulator. The fake injuries, the dramatics, it's all calculated to throw off his opponent. It's not just frustrating, it's straight-up dirty tactics. He doesn't need another trophy, he needs an award for deception."
A seperate X user said: "You gotta give it to Novak though. He is a master in pretending to be injured at will and feeling normal later if he wants to. Carlos was clearly annoyed with what happened. The acting needs to stop."
However, not everyone shared that same opinion.
When asked after his crushing defeat about Djokovic's injury and how he contemplated retiring after the second set if he had lost, Alcaraz shared an interesting response.
"I’m not saying he put on a show, but in the second set he looked in trouble and in the third and fourth I didn’t see anything. I don’t think he would have retired if he lost the second set. A tennis player who thinks about retiring doesn’t play the third and fourth sets the way he did," the Spaniard said.
Djokovic will now face world No.2 Alexander Zverev in Friday's semi-final.
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