Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley is confident Novak Djokovic will return to play the tournament in 2026. (More Tennis News)
Djokovic first suffered the injury during his quarter-final win against Carlos Alcaraz, with some sections of the Rod Laver Arena crowd booing him following h🔯is semi-final exit
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley is confident Novak Djokovic will return to play the tournament in 2026. (More Tennis News)
The 24-time grand slam winner was forced to retire hurt after one set of his semi-final match with Alexander Zve🎃rev last week, having aggravated a hamstring problem.
Djokovic first suffered the injury du❀ring his quarter-final win against Carlos Alcaraz, with some sections o✤f the Rod Laver Arena crowd booing him following his semi-final exit.
And after the withdrawal, the 10-time Australian Open champion hinted that 2025 could have been 🧔his final appearance🐬 at the grand slam.
But tournament director Tiley has dismissed suggestions Djokovic will not be playing at Melbourne 😼Park again.
"There was some talk about Novak [not coming back🤪]... Novak will return," he said.
"We'll see Novak back,💛 and I look forward to catching up with him in the next couple of weeks."
Djokovic posted photos of an MRI scan of the injury on social m💟edia after some fans claimed he had faked the issue.
"He had a good warm-up that morning and his team were confiden♒t that he'd be able🔜 to get out there and play," Tiley said.
"I haven't met a player that does as much pre-preparation and has as big a focus on it as Novak does, and he would do everything he possibly can to♊ get on the court."
It was the second successive year that Djokovic exited in the Australian Open semಌi-finals, with Jannik Sinner lifting the trophy at both editions.
The Serbian is trying to capture a 25th grand slam title to surpass Australia's Margaret Court, who won 24 women's singles titles between 1960 and 1973, for the o♕utright record.