Rafael Nadal will undergo scans to determine the exact nature and severity of the leg muscle injury that forced him to retire from his Australian Open quarter-final clash against Marin Cilic.
Nadal received treatment in the fourth set before he succumbed down a break in the fifth set with Cilic leading 3-6 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 2-0 on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday night.
Nadal called for the trainer for the first time down 1-4 in the fourth set and received treatment high on his right leg by the side of the court.
He received further attention after he lost the fourth set and shook Cilic’s hand after he lost his first service game of the final set.
“It’s not my hip, but I can’t tell you exactly the muscle,” a despondent Nadal told reporters after he limped slowly into his post-match press conference in obvious discomfort.
“It’s high on the leg.
“We’ll communicate what’s going on after I have an MRI (on Wednesday).”
The Spaniard said he first felt that the muscle was “a little bit tired” in the third set then felt something happen when he played a drop shot in the fourth.
Nadal withdrew from tournaments at the end of last season due to an ongoing knee injury that also forced him out of this year’s Brisbane International.
Players of the calibre of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic have also struggled with injuries over the past 12 months.
“Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what’s going on,” Nadal said.
“Too many people are 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 on these very, very hard surfaces what’s going to happen in the future with our lives.”
Nadal has retired once before at the Australian Open, in 2010, when he was trailing Andy Murray in a quarter-final.
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