NOVAK DJOKOVIC admitted he was heading out of the Australian Open today before quarter-final opponent Lorenzo Musetti suffered an injury to earn him a dramatic reprieve.

An out-of-sorts Djokovic looked down and out trailing by two sets to love, but Musetti sought treatment for a thigh injury after three games of the third set and played just one more game before shaking hands.

The Italian was leading 6-4 6-3 1-3, but it quickly became clear he was in major trouble as he barely moved to shots, and he pulled off his bandana before heading to the net.

Djokovic, who was forced out of last year’s semi-final here through injury, admitted he was extremely fortunate, saying: “I don’t know what to say except that I feel really sorry for him.

“He was the far better player, I was on my way home. It happened to me a few times but being in the quarters of a slam, two sets to love up, in full control, so unfortunate. I wish him a speedy recovery and he should have been the winner today no doubt.”

Musetti revealed in the press room later that he began to feel the injury at the beginning of the second set, with the pain increasing to the point of him being unable to continue.

It is not the first time the fifth seed has experienced such problems, with Musetti also pulling out during the French Open semi-finals against Carlos Alcaraz last summer.

“Honestly, I never imagined the feeling of leading two sets to zero against Novak and playing like that and have the lead of the match like that and be forced to retire. Of course, it’s really painful,” he said.

Djokovic is making his latest attempt to win a record 25th grand slam title and he may feel the stars are aligning for tomorrow’s semi-final against world number two Jannik Sinner, after scheduled fourth-round opponent Jakub Mensik was unable to take to the court at all because of injury.