Wimbledon - 'Very sad' Rafael Nadal explains decision to withdraw before semi-final with Nick Kyrgios
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Updated 07/07/2022 at 19:44 GMT
While Rafael Nadal practised at the All England Club on Thursday afternoon ahead of the last-four clash with Australia's Nick Kyrgios, he had to call a press conference for the evening to confirm that he has been forced to withdraw from the tournament due to the abdominal injury he suffered during his quarter-final victory over Taylor Fritz. As a result, Kyrgios has received a walkover.
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Rafael Nadal has given his reaction after he was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon ahead of his semi-final clash with Nick Kyrgios due to his abdominal tear.
Nadal practised at the All England Club on Thursday ahead of the last-four clash with the Australian, but he then called a press conference for the evening in which he confirmed that he had been forced to pull out.
It has been reported in the Spanish press that medical tests revealed he suffered a seven-millimetre tear in one of his abdominal muscles during the quarter-final against Taylor Fritz. According to Cadena Ser, Nadal appeared at the All England Tennis Club at 2pm on Thursday, and minutes later, he began training to prepare for the semi-final.
The Spaniard somehow managed to continue his quest to secure a historic Calendar Slam in 2022 after he roared back to beat Fritz in a marathon quarter-final. But while he managed to pull through the match with Fritz, he has come to the decision that he will not be able to compete at a sufficient level against Kyrgios on Friday.
“As you can imagine, I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament," Nadal said in the hastily-arranged press conference. "As everybody saw yesterday, I have been suffering with pain in my abdomen.
"It wasn’t okay then, and now it’s confirmed. I have a tear in the abdominal muscle. The communication is too late. I was thinking the whole day about the decision to make, but I think it doesn’t make sense [to continue]. Very tough circumstances; it’s obvious that if I keep going, the injury will worsen. I’m very sad to say that.
“I made my decision because I believe that I cannot win two matches under these circumstances. I can’t serve at the right speed; I can’t do normal movements. I can’t imagine myself winning two matches like this, and for respect for myself in a way, I don’t want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level I need to play at to achieve my goal.
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"There would have been a big chance of making things worse, and to be honest, a couple of weeks ago, I was in a difficult place with my foot injury, and now things are better in that case.
"For me, the most important thing is happiness; more than any title, even if everybody knows how much effort I put in to be here. I can’t risk that match and stay two, three months out of competition because that would be a tough thing for me.
“I never thought about the Calendar Slam. I thought about my diary and happiness. Australia wasn’t an issue; I didn’t have many problems during the tournament. I came back off a long period of time injured, and Roland-Garros was very demanding, mentally and physically.
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"Things were going better after that, but the fact that I was here shows how important this tournament is for me and how much I wanted to play here. I did all the things in the best way possible to give myself a chance here and I am in the semi-finals, playing well the last couple of days. Even if that makes me feel a little bit worse, I feel that the same level that I was playing at I would have had a chance.
“I found a way to finish the match, which is something that I’m proud of. I had some abdominal issues, things were more or less under control, but yesterday was the worst day and it’s obvious that after the match the very small thing I had days ago increased to a bigger thing. [I should be out] for about three or four weeks - that’s the norm with these kinds of injuries."
“Yesterday, as I said, I wanted to finish the match. I finished with a victory, but then I needed to do all the things that I had to do. The test says that I have what I have. There is always a choice, but in this particular case, it is not like the foot that I know that the injury is there and the injury will not get worse. In this particular case, it's obvious that if I keep going, the injury is going to be increasing,”
The legendary Spaniard had been on course to win a third successive Grand Slam this season after his incredible triumphs at the Australian Open and French Open. As a result, Kyrgios has received a walkover into the final.
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