Daniil Medvedev said he retired versus Novak Djokovic because he didn’t want to risk picking up an injury that could sideline him for an extended period.
After Novak Djokovic forced a third set in their Astana Open semifinal match, Medvedev approached the Serb and told him he was retiring due to a leg injury.
Medvedev felt that he pulled a muscle in his adductor as his movement was impacted.
Djokovic looked a bit surprised after Medvedev told him that he was retiring, but he understood after the Russian provided him an explanation.
Medvedev on retiring versus Djokovic
āItās the second time in my life I retired like this with a pulled muscle. So here, on the second point of the tie-break, I felt a little bit [of a] strange pop in my adductor. I first thought maybe it is cramp and after the point I was like: ‘No, probably not a cramp.ā And during the tie-break, I felt I can play like five, ten more points but thatās it. If I play one more set, you can do it, but you can probably miss half a year instead of one month. I actually have no idea what is fair, if I won, I would not play the final. I was like, āOK, I just try to hit some shotsā. If I manage to win, well I cannot do anything, I will retire. If I lose, congrats to Novak, heās still in great shape. Good luck to him in the final,” Medvedev explained after the match.
Medvedev and Djokovic were playing just for the first time this year.
After meeting in three finals last season, it took Medvedev and Djokovic 10 months of the 2022 season to meet again.
Unfortunately, their first meeting of the 2022 season ended via a Medvedev retirement.
After the match, Djokovic said he was sad because Medvedev wasn’t able to finish their match.