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Super Smash Finals LIVE from 2pm"Sh---y and disrespectful": Djokovic question slammed by ex-champ
SEN • January 29th, 2026 12:50 pm
Former grand slam champion Andy Roddick has slammed the “sh---y” and “disrespectful” questioning of Novak Djokovic after he progressed to the Australian Open semi-final.
The 24-time grand slam winner reached the final four after his opponent Lorenzo Musetti was forced to retire when two sets up because of a leg injury.
The 23-year-old Italian was 6-4, 6-3, 1-3 up on Rod Laver Arena when he brought an end to his campaign.
It’s the third moment of fortune for Djokovic this tournament who came close to being defaulted in the third round after he smacked a ball in the direction of a ball kid before he got a fourth-round walkover when Jakub Mensik withdrew injured.
While many will argue the 38-year-old is only in the semi-finals through luck, there was a question in Djokovic’s press conference that didn’t sit well among the tennis fraternity.
Asked to explain what it felt like to be “chasing” the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner for glory having spent most of his career doing the same to Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, Djokovic was unimpressed.
“I find it a little bit disrespectful that you kind of miss out on what happened in between, where the times when I started chasing, as you say, Rafa and Roger, and now that I’m chasing Carlos and Jannik, and there’s probably about a 15-year period in between where I was dominating the Grand Slams,” he said.
“So I think it’s important to put that in perspective. I don’t feel like I’m chasing, to be honest.”
Roddick, who won the US Open in 2003, said Djokovic was right to take offence.
“I don’t think Novak would argue with (the notion) ‘I’m chasing these two now’, but his point was, you skipped the decade I was the only guy being chased,” he said on his tennis podcast.
“What sucks is someone is gonna play that and say Novak was sh---y with the reporter but no, that’s a sh---y question. You can ask any question but there’s no time limit on asking a f-----g question.
“Say, ‘at the beginning of your career you chased these guys, then you dominated, now similar to 18 years ago you’re chasing two guys again. Are there any similarities or does a decade of ownership change the feeling?’
“Don’t leave out f-----g two decades.
“He’s right to get sh---y about it. He won 24 slams in the meantime, minor detail.”
