Two sets up, no way through: Musetti joins rare major retirement list
When Lorenzo Musetti walked to the net on Tuesday night at the Australian Open, the scoreboard told a story that tennis almost never sees.
Two sets to love up against Novak Djokovic, the Italian was forced to retire in their quarter-final, joining one of the sport’s most painful and unusual footnotes: players who have led by two sets at a Grand Slam and never finished the match.
Remarkably, this is not the first time Musetti has found himself on the wrong side of this rare statistic and against the same opponent. At Roland Garros in 2021, Musetti stunned the tennis world by taking the opening two sets from Djokovic in the fourth round. Physical struggles followed, Djokovic surged back, and Musetti eventually retired in the fifth set. Five years later, on a different surface, history repeated itself.
Across the entire Open Era (since 1968), there have been only a handful of instances where a player has retired from a major match despite holding a two-set advantage. Grigor Dimitrov was the most recent example at last year’s Wimbledon, where he retired due to a pectoral injury when leading Jannik Sinner 6-3, 7-5, 2-2.
| Match (Retired Player Second) | Score At Retirement | Major |
| Jannik Sinner-Grigor Dimitrov | 3-6, 5-7, 2-2 | Wimbledon 2025 |
| Ethan Quinn-Grigor Dimitrov | 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 | Roland Garros 2025 |
| Diego Schwartzman-Jack Sock | 3-6, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 | US Open 2022 |
| Novak Djokovic-Lorenzo Musetti | 6-7, 6-7, 6-1, 6-0, 4-0 | Roland Garros 2021 |
| Florent Serra-Steve Darcis | 6-7, 3-6, 5-4 | Australian Open 2012 |
| Michael Russell-Sergi Bruguera | 4-6, 5-7, 6-3 | Roland Garros 2001 |
| Grover Raz Reid-Sandy Mayer | 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 | US Open 1974 |
| Georges Goven-Mike Belkin | 4-6, 5-7, 3-0 | Roland Garros 1969 |
| Andres Gimeno-Manuel Santana | 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 1-0 | Roland Garros 1969 |
Research contribution from Jon Jeraj
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