Musetti’s Cruel Replay Against Djokovic in Melbourne
Lorenzo Musetti’s two-set lead over Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open dissolved into another painful retirement, a haunting echo of his 2021 collapse that exposes the fragility of his rising game.
When Lorenzo Musetti walked to the net on Tuesday night at the Australian Open, the scoreboard told a story that tennis almost never sees. Two sets to love up against Novak Djokovic, the Italian was forced to retire in their quarter-final, joining one of the sport’s most painful and unusual footnotes: players who have led by two sets at a Grand Slam and never finished the match. The Rod Laver Arena air hung heavy, fans murmuring as Musetti clutched his abdomen, his elegant strokes silenced by the body’s betrayal.
Paris shadows lengthen on hard courts
Remarkably, this is not the first time Musetti has found himself on the wrong side of this rare statistic and against the same opponent. At Roland Garros in 2021, Musetti stunned the tennis world by taking the opening two sets from Djokovic in the fourth round. Physical struggles followed, Djokovic surged back with piercing down-the-line forehands on the clay, and Musetti eventually retired in the fifth set.
Five years later, on Melbourne’s hard courts, history repeated itself amid rising tension. Musetti‘s heavy topspin forehands and one-handed backhand slices had disrupted Djokovic‘s rhythm early, his 1–2 patterns—drop shot into crosscourt winner—landing with precision. But fatigue crept in, turning those inside-out winners into errors as Djokovic’s flat returns forced longer rallies, the Serb’s low slices neutralizing net approaches that owned the first two sets.
Rare fades haunt the Open Era
Across the entire Open Era since 1968, there have been only a handful of instances where a player has retired from a major match despite holding a two-set advantage. Grigor Dimitrov was the most recent example before Musetti at last year’s Wimbledon, where he retired due to a pectoral injury when leading Jannik Sinner 6-3, 7-5, 2-2. Dimitrov’s serve-volley rushes had broken Sinner’s baseline flow on grass, but the injury stole a potential breakthrough, much like Musetti’s abdominal issue halted his surge here.
Earlier echoes amplify the toll. Ethan Quinn faced Grigor Dimitrov in a match where endurance gaps widened under pressure, while Diego Schwartzman led Jack Sock at the US Open 2022 before withdrawing, his compact defense buckling on the hard courts’ bounce. Florent Serra versus Steve Darcis saw aggressive inside-in forehands fade after two sets, the Frenchman’s push overwhelmed by exhaustion as victory loomed.
Archives whisper of unfinished fights
Deeper in the records, Michael Russell retired against Sergi Bruguera after dominating the first two sets, his baseline grit eroded on clay’s demands. Grover Raz Reid held Sandy Mayer on grass until fatigue intervened, rallies stretching into physical sieges. Georges Goven‘s lead over Mike Belkin dissolved in early hard-court volatility, each point a test of resolve.
Even Andres Gimeno, leading Manuel Santana in a clay battle, couldn’t seal the deal, the body’s limits underscoring tennis’s mental grind. For Musetti, this layers onto a season of Italian hopes post-Davis Cup, his game—built for clay’s lift—straining against hard-court pace. As Djokovic advances with that unyielding poise, Musetti’s path forward demands fitness tweaks, turning these ghosts into fuel for the clay swing ahead.
