Rafael Nadal Picture Credit: Twitter
Tennis star Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon 2022 a day before his semi-final clash against Kyrgios. The Spaniard suffered a abdominal injury during the quarter-final clash at SW19 but managed to register a win.
Earlier today, Nadal was seen practicing at the court for the big game but he later informed All England Club officials that he will not be fit enough to play on Centre Court tomorrow because of a 7mm abdominal tear.
“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", Nadal said at a press conference on Thursday.
“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”, he added.
Nadal's exit means Kyrgios is into his first Grand Slam singles final due to a walk-over.
Despite a painful injury, the 22-time Grand Slam winner had registered a remarkable win against Taylor Fritz in the quarter-final of Wimbledon 2022.
Nadal later revealed that he wanted to finish the match regardless of the result.
"My sister and father were telling me to retire. For me, it's tough to quit in the middle of a match. I have done that a couple of times in my career, but I hate doing that. That's why I kept fighting, wanting to finish the match regardless of the result", the 36-year-old said after the game.
Kyrgios will face either Cameron Norrie or Novak Djokovic who will play their semi-final on Centre Court on Friday.