Fans lament over Rafael Nadal injury putting paid to hopes of Fedal Australian Open Final

The dream of a repeat of last year’s remarkable Australian Open #Fedal final has been shattered after World No.1 Rafael Nadal was forced to withdraw from his quarterfinal clash with injury.

Nadal was in the midst of an epic five-set battle with big-serving Croatian Marin Cilic when he was noticeably hobbled and forced to call an injury time-out for what appeared to be a quad injury.

Sadly leaving the #ausopen tonight. I’ll get an MRI tomorrow morning to see what is the injury. Thanks for the support to all my fans pic.twitter.com/KwTf56G7aG

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) January 23, 2018

He tried to go on but was forced to retire at two sets all and 2-0 in the fifth set — 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7-5), 2-6, 2-0.

Devastated for @RafaelNadal 💔 #Fedal no more. Until next time champ. Get well soon. #AusOpen #Rafa @AustralianOpen

— CrashBulletin (@crash_bulletin) January 23, 2018

Cue the international lament that we won’t have a chance to see tennis’ two greatest rivals — Nadal and Swiss master Roger Federer — repeat their stunning clash of 2017, which the Fed won in five sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Earlier, Elise Mertens upset Elina Svitolina, dumping her out of the open with a bagel in the second set and Kyle Edmund became just the sixth Brit to make it through to a grand slam semi-final with a boilover against No.3 seed Grigor Dimitrov.

It sounds harsh but Djokovic has his dodgy elbow, Nadal his dodgy leg, Murray couldn't even get on the court, Wawrinka's been out for 6 months, Raonic is falling apart, and the Federer-bot will keep winning slams until he's 53.