Cilic counters Nadal over post-match criticism

Marin Cilic says he doesn't agree with Rafael Nadal's criticism of tour organisers after the World No.1 was forced to retire hurt from their Australian Open quarter-final.

Cilic said he believes the onus is on the players, not the ATP World Tour, to manage their calendars after Nadal was forced to bow out of Tuesday's last-eight meeting due to an upper leg injury, with Cilic 2-0 up in the deciding set.

In his post-match media conference, the World No.1 said the amount of injuries suffered by the sport's top stars should prompt the ATP to reconsider its scheduling, particularly regarding the hard-court tournaments.

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But Cilic, who will face grand slam semi-final debutant Kyle Edmund on Thursday, disagreed with his stricken opponent.

"The calendar is there for so many years," said the 2014 US Open champion.

"Just in this last year, obviously beginning of this one, we see a lot of top guys that are injured.

"In the end it's on all of us to try to take care of our bodies, to try to pick the right schedule, to listen to our body, how it feels.

"I completely understand there are a lot of tournaments that we play, mandatory tournaments.

"In my own perspective, we are all picking our own schedule. It's tough to say, 'okay, we are going to take out two months of the season, cut that many tournaments', because tennis is such a global sport.

"Everywhere we play people enjoy it. I think tennis is getting more and more popular, which we really want also."

Nadal's exit from the year's first grand slam came 24 hours after an ailing Novak Djokovic - returning from six months out with an elbow problem - had looked short of full fitness in a straight-sets defeat to Hyeon Chung.

Andy Murray missed the tournament altogether after undergoing hip surgery earlier this month, while Kei Nishikori is another absentee and Stan Wawrinka only made the second round on his comeback from a lengthy lay-off.

"Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what's going on," said Nadal.

"[There are] 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 on these very, very hard surfaces, what's going to happen in the future with our lives?"

Nadal is set to undergo scans to determine the exact nature and severity of the injury

"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)."

with agencies