why did musetti retire

Lorenzo Musetti retired because he suffered a leg muscle injury during the match, which left him unable to move and compete properly, forcing him to stop even though he was leading.

What happened

• In his Australian Open quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic in January 2026, Musetti began feeling sharp pain in his upper right leg/groin area early in the third set.

• He had taken the first two sets 6–4, 6–3 and was up 2–0 in sets when the issue appeared, so the retirement came while he was actually ahead on the scoreboard.

• He called a medical timeout, received treatment and tried to continue, but his movement and ability to push off the leg were clearly compromised, especially on serve and when chasing balls.

• After a couple of games with visibly reduced mobility and a double fault at 1–3 in the third set, he walked to the net and retired from the match.

How Musetti described it

• Musetti has said the decision was “really painful” emotionally and that he feared a muscle tear in the leg, stressing that he stopped because he physically could not continue at the required level.

• He also linked it to previous thigh/leg problems he has had in big matches, making this retirement especially frustrating for him.

Forum and fan discussion

• Some fans debate whether he should have tried to “finish it out,” but the general view is that retiring when you can’t move properly is justified, especially in a Slam and against someone like Djokovic.

• Others point out this is not the first time talk around a Musetti retirement has included questions about physical vs. mental fatigue, but only he and his team truly know how bad the injury felt in the moment.

Bottom line: he did not retire for tactical or mental reasons; it was officially and visibly due to a right leg muscle injury that made it impossible to compete normally.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.