It has been an extremely difficult year for Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic, whose physical woes set him back yet again on Thursday.
Raonic was forced to retire from his second-round match against Yuichi Sugita at the Japan Open with an injury to his right calf. He suffered his latest injury while dropping the first game of the match and was unable to continue.
Though he did not speak with reporters afterwards, Raonic did release a statement explaining what happened Thursday.
"I picked up a strain to the calf," said Raonic. "It's hard to know the extent of it, I'll have to wait because it's too soon to have an exact evaluation. It happened when the score was deuce. I felt a sharp pain at the back of my leg. I will head home now and get medical attention.
"It's been a difficult and frustrating year. I obviously wish I could have focused on tennis more rather than chasing help all the time."
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Raonic just returned to competitive action following wrist surgery. The 26-year-old, who reached the No. 3 ranking in the world a year ago, is currently the 12th ranked player on the ATP tour. Raonic owns a 28-11 match record this year, though without a single championship added to his career total of eight.
Earlier in the week, Raonic complained about the rigors of the ATP tour, amid his recent spate of injuries. He claims he has had a dozen different injuries, and believes the ATP needs to change its scheduling and requirements.
"Scheduling, the length of the year and how spread out — geographically and throughout the year — the tournaments are, especially the top tournaments for the top players, is something that deserves a second look," Raonic said on Tuesday. "It's hard to peak four times of the year for Grand Slams, let alone for other tournaments."