Twitter reacts as Rafael Nadal retires against Marin Cilic at the 2018 Australian Open quarter-finals

Nadal apparently had an upper leg muscle strain. He retired trailing, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 2-6, 0-2

Kyle Edmund vs Marin Cilic in a slam semi-final. What a time to be alive.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 23, 2018

Marin Cilic had that look about him tonight. Magnificent performance, but huge sympathy for Nadal after last year’s incredibly near miss. He virtually never pulls out before the final point.
— Russell Fuller (@russellcfuller) January 23, 2018

Tennis God 1: How can we screw with Rafa this year?

Tennis God 2: Let's have Diego Schwartzman play lights out for an hour

God 1: And then we'll have Marin Cilic play like if Del Potro had Novak Djokovic's return

God 3: And THEN, just as he's winning, he gets hurt
— Trenton Jocz (@TrentonJocz) January 23, 2018

Rafa #Nadal pulls the ripcord and Marin Cilic is into the semifinals against Britain's Kyle Edmund. Rafa was struggling most of the last set and was in obvious pain. You know this is killing him inside. More fight than anyone in the game. 😥 #AusOpen
— Ash Marshall (@AMarshallSport) January 23, 2018

Good game! @RafaelNadal, well played inspite of the injury! I am sure you will come back with a bang for next tournament😃 #AusOpen18 #rafanadal
— Shweta Vakade (@crazy_satangirl) January 23, 2018

Seems like Roger is heading for grand slam number 20, Rafa nadal crashes our after retirement and this comes a day after djokovic retired
— Sahil Mohan Gupta (@DigitallyBones) January 23, 2018

Cilic hit 83 winners to 39. He didn't win simply because Rafa was injured, he played a great match with the injury hampering Rafa at the end. Cilic was drilling it by that stage. #Rafa #Nadal #AusOpen
— Nate Beee (@En_Beee) January 23, 2018

Marin #Cilic finds himself where he is not because Rafa #Nadal got injured, but because he thought fighting was an option despite a set and a break down.

Give the man his due.
— Mikhail (@FedexMahindra18) January 23, 2018

No sports person celebrate a unearned victory over an injured opponent who retires.Cilic will meet a fit Rafa Nadal somewhere down the track. Hats off to Rafa for trying to finish the match for the paying fans
Vamos Rafa!
— Ralph DangFang (@rdangfang) January 23, 2018

Rafael Nadal retires for only the second time in 264 grand slam matches. Only previous retirement was vs Andy Murray in quarter-finals of 2010 Australian Open #AusOpen
— Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) January 23, 2018

Sadly, most of the comments I'm reading suggest this only happened because Nadal got/is injured.

Why don't you give Cilic some credit? No way Nadal would have had to retire if Cilic didn't fight for four sets and win two of them.
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) January 23, 2018

This is so painful to watch. Fair play to Rafa for soldiering on. What a man. #ausopen
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 23, 2018

Unfortunate scenes here with the world No.1 Rafael #Nadal retiring hurt in the QF 😥@Cilic_Marin progresses through to the SF. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/IEjPruzvdi
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2018

The team is telling Rafa to retire... yet he's trying not to, as he hates to retire in matches 😔😫
— Genny SS (@genny_ss) January 23, 2018

Nadal not sure yet specifically what his injury is. "This type of injury is difficult to know immediately."

Says he's planning to have an MRI tomorrow. #AusOpen
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 23, 2018

#AusOpen Nadal: "I can't say how bad it is. It happened just minutes ago, it's difficult to say with this injuries. I'm very sorry, I can't remember now, I started to feel the muscle tired in the third, then one drop shot in the fourth, something happened"
— Ubitennis (@Ubitennis) January 23, 2018

❌ Nadal
❌ Djokovic
❌ Dimitrov
❌ Zverev
❌ Thiem
✅ Cilic
❌ Goffin
❌ Wawrinka
❌ Sock

🙌🙌🙌 Federer#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/mknPRjojxW
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) January 23, 2018