Rafael Nadal’s hopes of completing a rare calendar year Grand Slam ended on Thursday when the Spaniard pulled out of his highly-anticipated showdown with Australian Nick Kyrgios with an abdominal strain
Last Updated: 07/07/22 7:58pm
Rafael Nadal came through his quarter-final in five sets but is unable to take to court against Nick Kyrgios for his Wimbledon semi-final on Friday
Rafael Nadal has pulled out of Wimbledon due to an abdominal injury and will not play the semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.
The Spaniard battled to a five-set victory over Taylor Fritz in his quarter-final despite struggling with an abdominal problem and said afterwards he would seek medical advice before deciding whether to take on Kyrgios in the semi-finals on Friday.
Nadal said at a press conference: “Unfortunately as you can imagine I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament.
“As everyone saw yesterday I have been suffering with a pain in the abdominal and something was not OK there. That is confirmed, I have a tear in the muscle and the communication is too late.
“I was thinking the whole day I was thinking about the decision to make but I think it doesn’t make sense to go, even if I try through my career to keep going. It is very tough circumstances but it is obvious if I keep going the injury will be worse and worse.”
Nadal’s scheduled Australian opponent will now receive a walkover into a maiden major final.
The 36-year-old insisted he made his tough decision due to the abdominal issue preventing him from being able to serve.
“I never thought about the calendar slam, I thought about my diary and my happiness,” Nadal said.
“I make the decision because I don’t believe I can win two matches under the circumstances. It is not only I can’t serve at the right speed, it is I can’t do the normal movement to serve.
“After that to imagine myself winning two matches, and for respect for myself in some way, I don’t want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level I need to play to achieve my goals.”
Spanish media reported Nadal had suffered a seven-millimetre tear to his abdominal muscle and the Spaniard has decided not to continue.
Having triumphed at the Australian and French Opens this year, Nadal and had been hoping to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam.
He will be sidelined for “three to four weeks”, with the US Open – scheduled to take place at the end of August – a target for the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
“I had some issues in the abdominal since the week but things were more or less, I was able to control it but yesterday was the worse day,” he said.
Nadal will concentrate on getting for the US Open, which begins on Monday, August 29
“During the week I did tests to see how things evolved and it is obvious yesterday after the match, the very small thing I had days ago increased to a bigger thing.
“For me the most important thing is happiness, not titles, even if everyone knows what I have done to get here. I can’t risk the match and risk two or three months out of the competition.
“It is my decision, I have to live with that and I can’t say another thing. I am very sad.”
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