Rafael Nadal PULLS OUT of Wimbledon with abdominal tear with Nick Kyrgios given bye to play Norrie or Djokovic in final
RAFA NADAL has withdrawn from Wimbledon ahead of his semi-final with Nick Kyrgios.
The Spaniard was suffering with an abdominal tear before and during his five-set quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz.
And it has now been confirmed that his pursuit of a calendar Grand Slam is over following the Wimbledon withdrawal.
Kyrgios will now meet either Novak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie in the men's singles final on Sunday.
Nadal has already won the Australian Open and French Open this year - taking his Grand Slam tally to 22.
But his abdominal injury has now prevented him from trying to clinch a third title at the All England Club.
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Speaking about being forced to withdraw, Nadal said: "Unfortunately I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament, everybody saw yesterday I had been suffering with pain in the abdominal.
"I know something was not okay there. that is confirmed. I have a tear in the muscle of the abdominal.
"The communication is too late, I was thinking during the whole day, the decision to make
"I think it is, yeah, it doesn’t make sense to go. Even if I did many times in my career to keep going, tough circumstances, it is obvious if I keep going, the injury will be worse and worse. I feel very sad to say that.
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"I believe I cannot win two matches under these circumstances. I cannot serve. It is not only I cannot serve at the right speed. I cannot do the normal movement to serve.
"I don't want to go out there and not be competitive to be at this level to play to achieve my goal with a big cance to make the things much worse."
Nadal's dad Sebastian and sister Maria Isabel were caught on camera frantically gesturing for Nadal to quit when he called for the trainer at 4-3 in the second set against Fritz on Wednesday.
The Spaniard, 36, was visibly struggling with an abdominal issue that has been strapped in recent matches.
And as he grimaced and shook his head, those in his box on Centre Court made their feelings known.
His father tapped his wrist - as if to tell his son to call time on his calendar Slam hopes and protect further damage - and he then waved his arms in the air.
All the while, his sister Maria Isabel and pregnant wife Xisca watched on nervously.
And Nadal confessed they were indeed wanting him to throw in the towel on Wimbledon's Centre Court.
The 22-time Grand Slam champ revealed: “They told me I needed to retire from the match.
“It was tough to retire in the middle of the match. Not easy even if I had that idea for such a long time.
“But in the other hand, I did it a couple of times in my tennis career. It is something that I hate to do it. So I just keep trying, and that’s it.
“I wanted to finish. And that’s what I did. I’m proud about the fighting spirit and the way that I managed to be competitive under the conditions.”
He was then asked whether he would be able to recover for the semi-final against Kyrgios.
To which he replied: "I don’t know. I’m going to have some more tests.
“It is difficult to know. I am used to have things and I am used to having pain and playing with problems.
“Let’s see. It’s obvious that this is nothing new. I had these feelings for a couple of days.
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“Without a doubt, this was the worst day. There has been an important increase of pain and limitation.
“I can’t give you a clear answer because if I gave you a clear answer and then another thing happens, I will be a liar."