The 37-year-old Serb retired after losing the opener 7-6 (7/5) to put the German world number two into the Melbourne decider for the first time.

Some in the crowd jeered Djokovic, annoyed that they didn’t get their money’s worth.

But Zverev said the nature of the injury – a muscle tear – meant playing on for two or three more hours was unrealistic.

“He knew probably to beat me after the first set he would have had to play probably at least three more hours, and that’s very difficult to do if you have a tear or if you have a muscle injury,” he said.

“So I think we should stop blaming Novak.

“Novak has done absolutely everything he could on the tennis court in the last 20 years,” he added.

“He’s won this tournament with an abdominal tear where most players can’t even continue playing. He’s won this tournament with a hamstring tear. He’s a 10-time champion (in Melbourne).

“I think we should all just respect that in a way because there’s nobody in this sport’s history who has won and who has done as much as him.”

Djokovic’s pain was Zverev’s gain with the 27-year-old handed the chance to again win a maiden Grand Slam after being runner-up at the US Open in 2020 and at Roland Garros last year.

He came into the season on a high after ending 2024 as world number two, winning more matches than anyone bar Jannik Sinner and back to his best after a horrific ankle injury.

“I’m obviously happy that I’m in a Grand Slam final again. I’m obviously happy that I have another shot at winning a Grand Slam,” he said.

“Was it the way I wanted it to end? No, of course not. It’s how it is sometimes in sports. It’s life. It’s sports. Life goes on.”

Zverev will face either world number one Sinner or American 21st seed Ben Shelton in Sunday’s final and said he was not worried about playing just one set in preparation.

“I still think that I played a high-level set. I think we both did. So in that regard, I still played tennis, right?” he said.

“It’s not like it was a withdrawal from the get-go, and I would have had, what, four days off. That would have been maybe a bit too much because then you feel like you’re starting a new tournament.”