Australian Open 2025 Day 10: Novak Djokovic defeats Carlos Alcaraz despite injury concerns

Despite battling an injury that will dominate proceedings in the days to come, Novak Djokovic sent a message to the next generation on Tuesday night. He’s not going anywhere yet.

Hold your horses young man, the King isn’t dead yet.

That’s the message Novak Djokovic sent Carlos Alcaraz and the next generation he’s leading who are trying to dethrone the King of Melbourne Park.

There was no snubbing of Jim Courier post-match this time with the 10-time Australian Open champion more than happy to talk about his brilliant 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory over the No. 3 seed.

In an absorbing 3hr 37min on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic defied the 16-year age gap and a first-set injury scare to keep his dream of a 25th grand slam title alive.

After nailing match point on his serve the Serbian superstar screamed towards his box where his wife and children were watching and then made a beeline to his new coach Andy Murray.

RECAP ALL THE ACTION FROM MELBOURNE PARK BELOW.

He now plays Germany’s No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev on Friday in what will be his 12th semi-final appearance in Melbourne.

“I wished this match today was the final, honestly,” Djokovic said. “It’s one of the most epic matches I have played on this court, on any court.

“I don’t know if Sasha Zverev is still awake at 1am … thank you all for staying up until 1am.”

Djokovic refused to reveal the nature of his leg injury and said if it wasn’t for painkillers he would have retired early in the match.

“I guess I did it with my two legs and two arms! I had one and a half legs actually,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic was plagued by injury early on in the match. Picture: Martin KEEP / AFP

“I don’t want to reveal too much,” he said. “The medication started to kick in and I had to take another dose which sounds awful but to be honest if I lost the second set I don’t know if I would keep playing.

“But it felt better and better, I then played a great couple of games and saw Carlos was hesitating at the back of the court.

“It started to feel better, I was moving better so it didn’t offer hindrance in the end … but we’ll see what the morning brings.”

The blockbuster quarter-final lived up to the hype with some extraordinary tennis played with a 33-shot epic point late in the fourth set where Alcaraz saved a break point epitomising the contest.

While he’d endured a controversial 48 hours after boycotting host broadcaster Ch 9 and going nuclear on local host Tony Jones for what he saw as disrespectful remarks towards him, it was a locked in and focused Djokovic on his favourite court.

After the early injury scare there were grave concerns for the 37-year-old with Alcaraz, who was seeking to get past the quarter-finals for the first time at the Australian Open, seemingly in control after wrapping up the opening set in 54 minutes.

The key moment came in the ninth game when he lunged for an Alcaraz passing shot and pulled up short, appearing to hurt his groin or thigh on his left leg.

He was clearly impacted for the rest of the game in which he eventually lost his service game to fall behind 4-5. Once the set was lost Djokovic immediately took a medical time-out and appeared several minutes later with strapping high on his left leg.

But as in keeping with his superhuman efforts in Melbourne over his career, the setback seemed to push him to another level as he reminded everyone why he’s one of the best returnees the game has seen.

Don’t forget he has suffered a torn hamstring and abdominal strain mid-tournament in different Australian Open campaigns and still found a way to win the title on both occasions.

“Back in 2023, I actually had a similar injury and I carried it basically from the beginning of the tournament. I just had to go for my shots more. Honestly, sometimes it helps and I felt it definitely helped in the second and third sets here.”

So a wounded Djokovic is a dangerous commodity and as he started to rip his groundstrokes, Alcaraz’s serve faltered to the point where he was down break points in all of his service games in the third set.

He remains on track for an 11th Australian Open crown. Picture: WILLIAM WEST / AFP

The pressure was too much and as the match passed the two-and-a-half hour mark, the old veteran was remarkably two sets to one up and looking invincible again.

With a whiff of the finish line, Djokovic broke Alcaraz’s opening service game of the fourth set and then held his nerve to register a memorable victory.

Djokovic had come in leading the head-to-head 4-3 and there were a couple of important stats in his favour.

Their last meeting was at the Paris Olympics where Djokovic won the gold medal for Serbia, becoming just the fifth player to complete the ‘Golden Slam’ (winning the Olympics and all four grand slams).

While Alcaraz, 21, had won the last two times they squared off in Wimbledon finals in 2023 and 2024, they’d previously only met twice on hard courts and both times Djokovic has taken the win, at Cincinnati in 2023 and then the ATP Finals the same year.

Given his extraordinary history at Melbourne Park, Djokovic keeps adding more achievements with the scalp of Alcaraz meaning his 12th semi-final appearance at the Australian Open elevates him to outright second behind Roger Federer on 15.

He has also now reached the milestone of 50 grand slam semi-finals throughout his career – four ahead of Federer.

Originally published as Australian Open 2025 Day 10: Novak Djokovic defeats Carlos Alcaraz despite injury concerns