Australian Open: Nadal hobbles into ranks of fallen stars
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA— The injuries continued for the elite of men’s tennis Tuesday, as top-ranked Rafael Nadal retired down by 0-2 in the fifth set of his Australian Open quarterfinal with Marin Cilic.
Nadal took a two-set-to-one lead after winning a third-set tiebreaker in typically combative fashion, pumping both arms and shouting after completing the task.
But down by 1-4 in the fourth set, he took a medical timeout and was treated on court while lying on his back. Trainer Per Bastholt worked on Nadal’s upper right leg. At one point, Nadal placed a towel over his face as he grimaced in pain.
He returned to the court and, after losing the fourth set, began hobbling between points as Cilic, the powerful sixth-seeded Croatian who played boldly throughout the match, continued to take big and often effective risks with his groundstrokes.
Nadal was restricted in his movement but did what he could for the next two games. After Cilic hit a forehand passing shot winner to break his serve in the second game of the final set, Nadal took off his headband, walked to the other side of the net and informed chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore and Cilic that he was retiring with Cilic leading by 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 2-0.
After exiting the court quickly, Nadal said he was still uncertain about the exact nature of his injury but was feeling pain high in his right leg.
“Not the hip,” said Nadal, who plans to have a magnetic resonance imaging test Wednesday.
In the semifinals, Cilic will face Kyle Edmund, an unseeded surprise from Britain who upset No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, earlier in the day in Rod Laver Arena.
Nadal’s retirement means there will be no rematch with Roger Federer in this year’s final. Federer is now the only member of the so-called Big Five who is still in contention at Melbourne Park.
The years of competing at the highest level are taking their toll on that elite group.
Andy Murray, 30, underwent hip surgery this month in Australia after withdrawing from this tournament. Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka managed to play after taking sixmonth breaks from competition because of injuries, but they were diminished in Melbourne.
Wawrinka, returning from knee surgery at age 32, lost in the second round. In his fourth-round loss, Djokovic, now 30, was frequently wincing in pain, his right elbow still not sufficiently healed after his extended break. Djokovic has acknowledged that elbow surgery is a possibility.
Nadal, 31, said tennis authorities need to think about the long-term health of the players.
“There is life after tennis, so I don’t know if we keep playing in these very, very hard surfaces, what is going to happen in the future with our lives,” he said.