2025 French Open semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday became the first player in the Open Era to retire in a Grand Slam quarterfinal or onwards after winning the first two sets. Musetti gave a walkover to 24-time Major winner Novak Djokovic despite being three games away from a massive victory.
He was his own worst enemy with a high unforced error rate, racking up 18 in the first set alone and 32 overall before Musetti walked away.
Djokovic held serve, then worked three break points to start. A nervy Musetti saved two of them, but a misjudged forehand put him 2-0 behind.
The sport we all love can be brutal sometimes… 💔
WIshing you a speedy recovery, Lorenzo 🙌@wwos • @espn • @tntsports • @wowowtennis • #AO26 pic.twitter.com/bC5wLyLrxo
— #AusOpen
(@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2026
Musetti was coming into the match on the back of a big, straight-sets win over the USA’s Taylor Fritz and for the entire match, he looked a better player than Djokovic.
Musetti settled and a slew of poor shots by the Serb opened the door to a comeback in the next game.
It was the first of four games in a row won by Musetti, whose court coverage was sublime as Djokovic piled up mistakes off both his backhand and forehand.
Musetti had three break points to race 5-2 ahead, but the veteran somehow fought back through an eight-minute game to hold on.
But it was just delaying the inevitable and Musetti took the set in 54 minutes, then broke again to open set two.
Djokovic wasn’t done yet, breaking back, but then threw it away again with yet more errors to concede serve for a fourth time.
Djokovic was broken again while trying to hold serve, as Musetti fired a brilliant forehand down the line to take a two-set lead. However, the latter soon required treatment for a thigh problem after falling 2-1 in the third set, leaving his movement hampered.
Musetti tried to carry on, but had no choice but to throw in the towel.
