“It felt like it was finals of a Slam,” Novak Djokovic said in the wake of his absorbing four-set win over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday at Australian Open 2025.
As the 10-time Melbourne Park champion well knew, it wasn’t a final but just a quarterfinal, and one where Djokovic needed a medical timeout for an upper leg issue that he said was “very similar” to his 2023 injury.
Djokovic is back on Friday to face Alexander Zverev in the afternoon session at Rod Laver Arena before defending champion Jannik Sinner meets Ben Shelton in the night session.
Here’s a closer look at both semifinals.
Alexander Zverev [2] v Novak Djokovic [7]
Friday, not before 2.30pm AEDT
Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 8-4
The most obvious question surrounding Djokovic’s match with Zverev is how will the Serb feel physically?
Djokovic has demonstrated his powers of recovery more than once in his career, including doing it on at least two occasions at the Australian Open, most recently in 2021 (abdominal) and 2023 (hamstring).
But in 2021, the injury surfaced in the third round, and his next opponent was someone he had never lost to, Milos Raonic. In 2023, his hamstring issue stemmed from winning the title in Adelaide earlier that month.
After two intense matches to start AO 2023, Djokovic seemed to improve physically and ended up only dropping one set the entire fortnight.
Now, though, Djokovic’s first match after an injury comes against the second seed who can linger for hours and has beaten him four times. Djokovic is, of course, two years older at 37.
“Now it's really about recovery,” said Djokovic after overcoming Alcaraz in three-and-half hours. “I’m concerned. I am, to be honest, physically.
“But if I manage somehow to, yeah, be physically good enough, I think mentally, emotionally I'm as motivated as I can be.”
MORE: AO 2025 men's singles draw
The extra day off between the quarterfinals and semifinals for Djokovic’s half of the draw could make all the difference, as the 24-time Grand Slam winner suggested himself.
He has never lost to Zverev at a major (3-0). The German stood on the other side of the net in 2021 in the Australian Open quarterfinals, losing a three-and-a-half hour slugfest.
But Zverev has inflicted heavy heartache on Djokovic in the past, notably at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when he overturned a set and break deficit in the semifinals prior to claiming gold.
Djokovic would finally land his gold last year – which means, with Andy Murray present, three Olympic singles gold medallists will be at court level at Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
Unusually for Zverev, he is well rested in the second week at a Grand Slam, only conceding two sets. He did, however, narrowly avoid trailing by two sets against Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals.
Paul, the AO 2023 semifinalist with the all-court game, served for the first set and led 5-2 in the second but lost them both.
Twelve months ago, while Djokovic fell to Sinner in the semifinals in four sets, Zverev saw Daniil Medvedev overturn a two-set deficit to add to his Grand Slam heartbreak.
Zverev showed his hunger to win that first major for the umpteenth time when it was brought to his attention on Tuesday that he passed countrymen Boris Becker for most Australian Open men’s wins, and Tommy Haas to take sole possession of second among German men in overall Slam victories.
“I think the big difference in the thing that everybody looks at is Boris Becker lifted this trophy twice,” said Zverev, who lost both his Grand Slam finals in five sets.
“I haven't yet. So that is, I think, way more important than just match wins.
“Of course, I'm happy to be on that list, and I'm happy to be in that conversation of greats in German tennis. But yeah, lifting the trophy is what is on my mind.”
Jannik Sinner [1] v Ben Shelton [21]
Friday, from 7.30pm AEDT
Head-to-head: Sinner leads 4-1
When it comes to hard courts in particular, Sinner hoists the trophies most of the time.
Like his fellow No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, he is the reigning Australian and US Open champion.
Sinner felt he played his best match of the tournament in the quarterfinals, which happened to come at the expense of home favourite Alex de Minaur.
In a matchup he has thrived in – now 10-0 against the Sydney native – Sinner tallied 81 per cent of his second serve points in Wednesday’s night session.
Afterwards, he shed light on his physical state after feeling dizzy against Holger Rune in the fourth round.
“After the match against Holger we made some blood test, some tests,” said the Italian.
“They were all solid, all good.
“Sometimes it can happen that you just feel not that well in that day. (Wednesday) I woke up feeling much, much better. I told my team straightaway that I'm feeling good tonight.
“Obviously playing not with the heat helps you, especially when you are not feeling that well.”
Sinner and Shelton occupy the night slot on Friday, little surprise given they competed on Wednesday.
Temperatures are expected to sit at around a pleasant 20 degrees with little wind come match time, presumably to Sinner’s liking.
Shelton might not match the world No.1 in hard court prowess – few can – but all three of the US lefty’s deepest forays at a major have come on hard courts.
Few could forget his breakthrough at AO 2023, when Shelton powered to the quarterfinals ranked No.89.
Shelton has beaten Sinner on a hard court, too, in their first duel in Shanghai in 2023. But since then, Sinner holds a 4-0 record against the 22-year-old, with three of those on hard.
In those last four matches, in five tight sets ending in ‘7,’ Sinner prevailed in all of them.
Shelton joint-leading the tournament in fastest serve exemplifies a massive weapon but overall, tempering his swashbuckling style is paying dividends.
“I don't think I'll be redlining,” said Shelton.
“If anything, I've been, in terms of my baseline play, a bit more conservative this tournament, okay with going deep in rallies. Probably have to step that up a little bit in the semifinals.
“I think that I'm figuring out ways to make guys uncomfortable without just playing at my upper limits and slapping.”