Australian Open: Rafael Nadal retires with injury against Marin Cilic
MELBOURNE - World No. 1 Rafael Nadal abandoned his Australian Open quarterfinal match after sustaining an upper right leg injury during his Australian Open quarterfinal match against Marin Cilic on Tuesday.
Nadal was leading two sets to one, but was behind 4-1 in the fourth set when he took a medical timeout to have the injury attended to before serving the sixth game. Prior to the fifth set, Nadal consulted again with the trainer but went back out on the court.
Nadal continued on valiantly, but his pain - and ability to move - kept getting worse. Finally, after he dropped his serve in the second game of the fifth set, Nadal begrudgingly called it quits with Cilic leading 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 2-0 after 3 hours, 47 minutes.
"In the end very unfortunate because Rafa is always fighting really hard, always giving the best on the court," Cilic said. "Obviously very sad for him to finish the way he did."
A disappointed Nadal limped off the court to cheers from the crowd and offered a good-bye wave before going into the tunnel.
Arriving at the press conference, the top seed walked gingerly into the room.
“Start to feel the muscle, little bit tired in the third, but playing normal, no limits, no limitation. Then in the fourth at one movement, one drop shot I think, I felt something,” he said, and then let out a long, painful sigh. “At that moment I thought something happened, but I didn't realize how bad, how bad was what's going on in that moment.”
Having had more than his fair share of injuries throughout his career, the 16-time Grand Slam champion used the press conference as a time to reflect. This was his first tournament since a knee injury saw him pull out of the year-end ATP Finals after just one match played last November.
In 2016, he lost the last six months of the year, but returned in 2017 to win a record 10th French Open and the U.S. Open.
“Tough moments,” he said, quietly. “Is not the first time an opportunity that is gone for me. I am a positive person, and I can be positive, but today is an opportunity lost to be in the semifinals of a Grand Slam and fight for an important title for me.
“Always in the tough moments, even if difficult to think about it, there is so many positive things that happened in my career,” he added. “It's (injuries) a negative thing, but I don't (want) to complain because (it) happened to me more than others. But on other hand I was winning more than almost anyone. But who knows (what could have happened), if I didn't have all these injuries.”
Nadal used the press conference pulpit to implore tour officials to look at the number of injuries afflicting many of the top players of late.
Andy Murray just had hip surgery. Novak Djokovic lost in the fourth round and was uncertain about how well his right elbow healed as he was still experiencing pain. Stan Wawrinka played here, but struggled with his knee after recent surgery. Kei Nishikori is playing smaller tournaments in the U.S. trying to return after a wrist injury.
“Somebody who is running the tour should think little bit about what's going on,” Nadal said. “Too many people getting injured. I don't know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players. Not for now that we are playing, but there is life after tennis. I don't know if we keep playing in this very, very hard surfaces what's going to happen in the future with our lives.”
Despite the demoralizing outcome for Nadal, the fact he journeyed to the quarterfinals offers one positive in that he will retain the top ranking after the Australian Open.
Nadal, who lost a five-set thriller to Roger Federer in last year’s final here, holds a 26-7 winning record in Grand Slam quarterfinals. Nevertheless, the Spaniard hasn’t fared well at the Australian Open where he is now 5-5 in quarterfinal appearances. In comparison, he is 10-1 at the French Open, 5-0 at Wimbledon, and 6-1 at the U.S. Open in final eight matches.
Cilic, who won the 2014 U.S. Open title, and was a finalist to Roger Federer at Wimbledon last year, was also a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2010.
In an interesting statistic, Cilic has only lost to a left-handed opponent at a Grand Slam once. That loss took place here at Melbourne Park to Nadal in 2011's round-of-16.
Regardless of Nadal’s injury, Cilic played big-time tennis in the match. Always aggressive on the court, he sizzled with 83 winners, although that was countered with 62 unforced errors. He also won 35 of 47 points at the net.
"Extremely pleased with my own game," Cilic said. Even in these other matches before this one, I played great tennis. Very, very high level."
In what can be considered another unforeseen outcome at this unpredictable Australian Open, Cilic will be staring across the net at 49th-ranked Kyle Edmund instead of third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals.
Despite never being in a major quarterfinal before, the 23-year-old Edmund played composed tennis to prevent Dimitrov from reaching a second-consecutive Australian Open semifinal by earning a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal victory.
“I am loving it right now, just the way I’m playing,” Edmund said. “I’m 23 years old, my first Grand Slam semifinal. First time I played on one of the biggest courts in the world. To beat a quality of player like Grigor.
“You don’t obviously play in the semifinals of a Grand Slam every day, or a quarters like today,” he added.