22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn his name from the Wimbledon semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios. The Spaniard sustained an abdominal injury and says he won’t play his semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios.
Nadal got injured during Wednesday’s quarterfinals clash against Taylor Fritz. The ace tennis star underwent scans on the injury on Thursday as later in the day he withdrew his name from Wimbledon.
“I have to pull out of the tournament. As everybody saw yesterday I have been suffering with the pain in the abdominal area,” said the 36-year-old.
“I have a tear in the muscle.”
We’re sad to see it end this way, @Rafael Nadal
Thank you for another year of unforgettable moments at The Championships#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/XadiEVxaWF
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2022
He was involved in a gruelling quarterfinal contest against Fritz where he managed to emerge victorious 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/4) to reach the semifinals.
Kyrgios advanced to his first final at a major tournament. He will meet either Novak Djokovic or Cam Norrie for the championship on Sunday.
The second-seeded Nadal, a 36-year-old from Spain, is 19-0 in Grand Slam action in 2022, including trophies at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. That put him halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
After that quarterfinals, Nadal said he had considered stopping. He took a medical timeout to take painkilling pills and his father and sister motioned from the stands for him to quit.
On Thursday’s off day, Nadal went to the All England Club for a light practice session. He was signed up on the official schedule to train on one of the competition courts but did not show up there, instead opting for practice courts to which fans don’t have access.
Mostly content to hit forehands and backhands, Nadal did attempt a few serves — the part of his game that revealed the most obvious inability to play with full force and, he said, caused the most discomfort against Fritz. Those practice serves Thursday were generally tapped in, by Nadal’s standards, not with any of the body-torqueing effort he usually uses.
It’s not far from what went on with Nadal at Roland Garros, where he took repeated injections to numb the chronic pain in his left foot and insisted he had no idea when he might reach the point of not being able to take the court.
(With AP Inputs)
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