Lorenzo Musetti can count himself extremely unfortunate to not be featuring in the Australian Open’s semi-final lineup on Friday.
The Italian found himself two sets up against Novak Djokovic and seemingly on his way to booking his place in the Australian Open semi-finals for the first time.
Unfortunately for the Italian star, he suffered a right leg injury midway through the third set; an issue that forced him to retire from the match.
Djokovic recognised how fortunate he was after the contest, before sending Musetti a heartfelt message on social media.
One former Grand Slam winning coach has criticised Musetti’s decision to retire from the match, suggesting the Italian should have tried to play the rest of the third set against Djokovic.
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Brad Gilbert criticises Lorenzo Musetti’s decision to retire from his match against Novak Djokovic
Brad Gilbert, the former coach of Coco Gauff and Andy Murray, has weighed in on Musetti’s retirement against Djokovic.
The Grand Slam winning coach, who played a major role in the career of Andre Agassi, referred to Musetti’s previous retirements at Grand Slams in his analysis of the Italian’s decision.
Gilbert said” “He’s now had a retirement in the round of 16 to joker [Djokovic], quarters [Editors note: Gilbert is actually referring to the 2024 Wimbledon semi-finals], semi-finals of the French!
“You kind of feel like, why not wait for the pain killer tablets to kick in, at least play out the rest of the third set.”
Musetti has a history of retiring at Grand Slam events.
In 2021, he retired from his French Open fourth-round match against Novak Djokovic, and four years later, he retired from his semi-final match at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.
In 2025, Musetti retired from his French Open semi-final match against Alcaraz. His most recent retirement in Australia marked his fourth mid-match withdrawal from a Grand Slam.
“I know that Grigor [Dimitrov] did it at Wimbledon last year up two sets but basically missed the rest of the year,” Gilbert continued.
“So you feel like man, Musetti better be out six to eight weeks because I just feel like somehow – I know it’s an upper leg injury and he’s a little gun shy about injuries – but gotta maybe try and play out that set.”
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Is Brad Gilbert correct?
It is hard for anyone to make a judgement about Lorenzo Musetti’s injury other than the Italian himself.
Therefore, it is difficult to assess the severity of Musetti’s physical issue. There is a fine line between playing through pain and causing oneself further injury by continuing to persevere.
The perfect example of this is Holger Rune, who tore his Achilles tendon in October 2025. Rune recently admitted he made a big mistake in the lead-up to the injury, and recently defended Musetti’s decision to retire on social media.
In summary, while Gilbert’s points certainly hold weight when considering Musetti’s history of retirements at Grand Slam events, the need for Musetti to protect his own physical state from more serious injury outweighs the need to push through pain for the sake of a result.
