Saturday marked an unfortunate day on the ATP Tour, as three players were forced to retire mid-match during their semifinal encounters, leaving the injured/unwell players and fans disappointed. The players’ inability to fight at their best and finish the matches would definitely weigh hard, especially considering the stakes involved in reaching the final. It’s surprising as the new season has just started and the players are well-rested. Below are the players who had to retire from their semifinal matches.
Three Players Retire during Semifinals
Hong Kong: Shang Juncheng
Shang Juncheng of China retired after the seventh game of his semifinal match against Kei Nishikori. Shang stated after the match that he had a bad fever last night. He also retired from his last match at the Next Gen Finals last month, making this his second retirement in the past 15 days. The Chinese player came into this tournament on the back of losing five straight matches but found his form and lost just one set before the semifinals. Shang has suffered several injuries in his brief career and hopes to have a healthier 2025.
Shang’s semifinal opponent, Kei Nishikori, who is into his first tour-level final since 2018 had nice things to say about Shang on X (formerly Twitter). “Never fun to win like this. Jerry is a great player and I wish he gets well soon” said Nishikori.
Brisbane: Grigor Dimitrov
In the ninth game of the second set, defending Brisbane International champion Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire from his semifinal match against Jiri Lehecka. It looked like a hip issue. Dimitrov won his first title in seven years at this event last year and was the favourite to win it again. The Bulgarian star didn’t lose a set en route to the semifinals. Over the past 18 months, Dimitrov has performed at an exceptionally high level, but injuries have prevented him on multiple occasions. The world No. 10 will be doubtful for the Australian Open.
United Cup: Tomas Machac
This was probably the most shocking retirement of the three and would have hurt the most, as Tomas Machac’s retirement meant Czechia’s elimination from the United Cup semifinals. Machac was playing some brilliant tennis and was leading a set and served for the match before getting broken against world No.4 Taylor Fritz. He struggled physically (cramping) in the second set and decided to retire after getting broken, as he couldn’t continue any longer. Machac played at a high level during the United Cup and will be a dangerous player at the Australian Open if he stays fit.
Min Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
