The men’s final was decided yesterday, and it will be Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner to fight it out for the Australian Open title. Here’s what the semi-final competitors had to say.
For Novak Djokovic, it was a disappointing ending, having to retire after one set against Zverev.
"I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had," he said. 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.
"Unfortunate ending, but I tried."
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Talking about whether this could be his last appearance down under, Djokovic was unsure.
"I don't know. There is a chance. Who knows? I'll just have to see how the season goes. I want to keep going. But whether I'm going to have a revised schedule or not for the next year, I'm not sure," said the 10-time winner.
"I normally like to come to Australia to play. I've had the biggest success in my career here. So if I'm fit, healthy, motivated, I don't see a reason why I wouldn't come. But there's always a chance."
For his part, Alexander Zverev had nothing but praise for Djokovic.
"I think we should stop blaming Novak. Novak has done absolutely everything he could on the tennis court in the last 20 years. I said it on court. He's won this tournament with an abdominal tear where most players can't even continue playing. He's won this tournament with a hamstring tear," said the world No.2
"He's a ten-time champion. I think we should all just respect that in a way, because there's nobody in this sport's history who has won and who has done as much as him."
He also spoke about how Djokovic helped him get through some tough times last year.
"I was disappointed after the French Open how my year was going. I was not winning tournaments anymore. Again, US Open, I keep going back to US Open, but US Open was extremely disappointing to me because I thought I had a big chance to go very far there, to make it to the finals. I performed bad. Very, very bad in my opinion.
"I was just asking him how it was for him when he was having difficult moments, 2016, '17 and all that, how he was coming back. He was always very open to me.
"We had very long chats there, as well. We practiced quite a lot together in Shanghai, funny enough. He was just talking to me about his situations and about his experiences with difficult times."
Ben Shelton was understandably disappointed with his straight-sets exit.
"Honestly really disappointed. Going into the match that playing Jannik is a tough ask. For me, I've made my living on tour so far serving out sets and being able to serve out sets. Having two set points on my serve, serving at 6-5, [it was] uncharacteristic for me not to come through and win that," he explained.
"Obviously you're playing the No. 1 player in the world, the chances, the windows are always small. Sometimes you miss your window, and the guy steps up his level, starts making a lot more first serves, playing better. The break chances don't come as often."
He does think he’s getting nearer to the top level though.
"I know I'm close. I know my level's close. I know I have a lot of the stuff that I need. I certainly believe in myself. I just think that the reps against those guys, the consistency of playing those guys, playing a lot of matches in a week or a couple weeks, that will be the goal this year for me."
Jannik Sinner admitted escaping that first set was important.
"It was a crucial set. I think we both returned actually quite well. Just trying to stay calm in the important moments. I knew in the first set it was very important, especially when he was serving for the set. The tiebreak, I tried to play very solid, which then gave me confidence for the next couple of sets," said the defending champion.
He also spoke about the excitement of playing on the final day of a tournament.
"I've been in this position to play finals of Grand Slams, which is something good. Also, Sascha has been in that situation. Finals are a bit different, but very exciting days.
"Sundays, when you arrive, doesn't really matter how big the tournament is, but when you play Sunday, there's a nice feeling. There are only two men standing. You just try to play the best tennis possible.
"I'm trying to take the things away in your head, the pressure. Even if it's easy to say, but difficult to do... I will try to do that and also enjoy these moments. We won six very, very tough matches. Yeah, finals are very special."
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