Lorenzo Musetti admitted he was lost for words after he suffered a hip injury in the quarterfinal clash against Novak Djokovic on Wednesday. The Italian was in a shoo-in position against the Serbian, leading by two sets to love before a muscle tear played killjoy. 

Musetti decided to retire when he was down 1-3 in the third set, but revealed he felt the pain at the start of the second set at the Rod Laver Arena.

“I felt it at the beginning of the second set,” said Musetti in his post-match press conference. “I felt there was something strange in my right leg. I continued to play, because I was playing really, really, really well, but I was feeling that the pain was increasing, and the problem was not going away.

“At the end, when I took the medical timeout, to stay three minutes, I sat, and when I started to play again, I felt even more and the level of the pain was getting higher and higher. So not much to say about it.”

The World No.5 expressed his disappointment after he was forced to retire when he was leading against Djokovic.

“Definitely, yes,” said Musetti, when asked whether it was the toughest injury-related situation of his career. “Honestly, I never imagined the feeling of leading two sets to zero against Novak and playing like that. Having the lead in the match like that and being forced to retire is something that, of course, I could never imagine. Of course, it’s really painful.”

“It was a little bit too high, so it was impossible to tape it,” said the two-time ATP Tour champion. “I feel personally that I know my body, and I feel personally that I’m kind of secure that this is a tear, unfortunately.”

Musetti would look to bounce back stronger after recovering from his injury.