"Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what's going on. Too many people are getting injured"
Thursday 24 May 2018 14:22, UK
Rafael Nadal believes tour organisers need to address the growing number of injuries sustained by players, after the world No 1 was forced to retire in his quarter-final meeting with Marin Cilic at the Australian Open.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion was leading 2-1 in sets but was forced to call for a medical timeout, after falling a break behind in the fourth set, for an issue high up on his right leg.
Nadal, who has battled against injury during his career, arrived in Melbourne with limited match preparation after suffering a knee injury at the end of 2017 but impressed in the first week only for his challenge to ultimately end in disappointment.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were both forced to stop their seasons short last year, along with host of other top 20 players, while the Serbian suffered a recurrence of his elbow injury during his fourth round defeat by Hyeon Chung.
"Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what's going on. Too many people are getting injured," Nadal said.
"I don't know if they think a little bit about the health of the players. I don't know if we keep playing on these very hard surfaces what's going to happen in the future with our lives."
When asked the extent of the injury Nadal had sustained, the 31-year-old was unwilling to speculate on the damage and revealed he would shortly undergo an MRI scan.
"I was playing okay. I was playing a match that anything could happen: could win, could lose. He was playing good, too," Nadal said.
"But I was fighting for it. I was two sets to one up. Yeah, just have to accept, recover, go back home, stay with my people and keep going. That's all."
"I can't tell you exactly the muscle. It's high on the leg. Tomorrow we're going to communicate what's going on after a MRI scan.
"Now is not the moment to say what's going on because we really don't know and the doctors really don't know yet."
Nadal, last year's runner up in Melbourne, described his exit as "an opportunity lost" with his only previous Australian Open title coming in 2009, when he beat Roger Federer.
"It's not the first time an opportunity is gone for me. I am a positive person, and I can be positive, but today is an opportunity lost to be in the semi-finals of a grand slam and fight for an important title for me."
