Marin Cilic considered US Open withdrawal

Defending champion Marin Cilic considered withdrawing from his US Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic due to a foot injury.

Hampered by a twisted ankle suffered in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, the Croatian was crushed 6-0 6-1 6-2 by world number one Djokovic.

Cilic, whose ankle was swollen, said he only decided to play against the Serbian due to the stage - a grand slam semi-final at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"I knew that I'm not 100 per cent, obviously. And even the last match against Jo [Jo-Wilfried Tsonga] I wasn't feeling 100 per cent," he told a news conference.

"The foot was causing me obviously some trouble with the movement, but Novak was able to expose me much more today.

"Even coming before the match and thinking if I'm going to play or not, I decided to play, as it's a grand slam tournament, it's deep in the tournament. I decide to go on the court and give my best.

"If it would be some other tournament, doesn't matter which one, I would probably pull out and not get myself in the position to aggravate it much more.

"But also today, even though with the foot, even though it was causing me trouble, I didn't play so well today. A lot of mishits and a lot of missed balls that I shouldn't have missed in some situations.

"But that was in my head already from the beginning and the score went in that way. The score was going pretty quickly in the beginning, so it didn't give me time to get in the match."

Defending a grand slam title for the first time, Cilic said he would reflect positively on his 2015 US Open.

The 26-year-old also paid tribute to Djokovic for his ability to stay focused and claim victory in one hour, 25 minutes.

"I will look back very positively to the tournament. Extremely great tournament," Cilic said.

"Obviously very unlucky that I twisted the ankle, but still with that, in the match against Novak, anyway it's very difficult. I went to the match obviously to play. I cannot pull myself out of it with injury. That's the reality.

"Novak was extremely focused today. He played great. But I have to also take myself as, that I was fighting pretty well during the full tournament.

"Considering the first time experience having to defend a grand slam title, I feel that I accomplished well. So I'm very, very positive coming out of the tournament."