Serbian Novak Djokovic had earlier hinted that the new measures put forward by the US Open in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak . were a little extreme. (Getty Images)
Australian Open finalist Novak Djokovic says he has huge respect for Roger Federer after finding out that the Swiss has never retired from a match in over 20 years of playing.
Third seed Djokovic ended Federer’s hopes of a winning a seventh Australian Open title when he knocked out the World No.2 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-final.
Serbian Djokovic was talking to the media following his win over the Swiss international when one of the reporters posed a question regarding his views on Federer’s outstanding retirement record.
In reply, Djokovic did not hide his admiration and respect for his rival and former World No. 1 lauding the latter’s achievement as an amazing feat after all these years of playing professional tennis.
“Respect. I mean that’s all I can say,” Djokovic retorted quickly to the journalist’s query. The 32-year old later evoked memories of his own injury struggles that had disrupted his game.
“I did have retirements throughout my career, I know how it feels when you are hurt on the court. The amount of thoughts that go through your mind whether or not you should continue or not, whether it’s going to get worse,” he said.
“Only the player knows at that moment what you go through. So, obviously it’s really hard to compare injuries because everyone goes through their injury respectively, individually, but I think it’s an amazing fact that he has not retired as much, not a single match throughout his career. Huge respect for that.”
With his victory over Federer, Djokovic has now reached his eighth-ever final appearance at the Australian Open.
A record seven-time Australian Open winner, Djokovic has won every summit clash that he has played in Australia and would be hopeful that he could continue the trend in his most favourite Grand Slam event.
Djokovic will next meet the winner of the other semi-final between Austrian Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev.
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