Fans devastated for ‘true competitor’ Nadal as he pulls out of Wimbledon

08.07.2022 - 09:01 breakingnews.ie

Tennis fans at Wimbledon say they are “devastated” for Rafael Nadal after he was forced to pull out of the grand slam tournament due to an abdominal injury.

The 22-time grand-slam champion battled through the issue to beat Taylor Fritz in five sets on Wednesday to progress into the semi-finals at SW19, but scans a day later revealed the severity of the injury.

Nadal was set to play Nick Kyrgios in Friday’s semi-final, but his Australian opponent will now receive a walkover into a maiden major final.

He announced in a press conference on Thursday evening that he would be withdrawing, ending his bid for winning all four grand slams in a year.

tennis Wimbledon Sport as Rafael Nadal Nick Kyrgios Taylor Fritz Australia

The 27-year-old was drawn to take on German Peter Gojowczyk in his opening round of the ATP 250 hardcourt event in Georgia but instead addressed the crowd after his withdrawal. "First of all, I just want to say I'm extremely shattered that I'm not able to compete tonight," Kyrgios, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, said on court.

Kyrgios pulls out of singles in Atlanta with knee problem

Australian Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the Atlanta Open singles draw with a left-knee problem on Tuesday ahead of his first match since finishing runner-up at Wimbledon this month.

Novak Djokovic eyes Wimbledon glory after Rafael Nadal pulls out

Rafael Nadal no longer stands in the way of a 21st Grand Slam triumph. The Spanish second seed was Thursday forced to pull out before his last-four match against Nick Kyrgios with an abdominal injury, admitting defeat in his race to be fit. Nadal's withdrawal deprives the tournament of a blockbuster semi-final against Kyrgios, which had been on the cards since the Australian beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a bad-tempered third-round match.

'I withdrew out of respect to myself': Rafael Nadal after pulling out of Wimbledon semis

Rafael Nadal said on Thursday his decision to withdraw from Wimbledon, due to an abdominal injury, was “out of respect to myself”. “I made my decision because I believe that I can't win two matches under these circumstances. I can't serve,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion said while announcing his pullout a day ahead of his much-anticipated semifinal clash with Australian Nick Kyrgios. “It's not only that I can't serve at the right speed, it's that I can't do the normal movement to serve.” “I have to say that, for respect to myself in some way, I don't want to go out there, not be competitive enough to play at the level that I need to play to achieve my goal, and with a big chance to make the things much worse, no? “As I always said, for me the most important thing is happiness more than any title, even if everybody knows how much effort I put to be here. But I can't risk that match and stay two, three months outside of the competition because that's going to be a tough thing for me.”

Injured Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon on Thursday because of a torn abdominal muscle, announcing his decision a day before he was supposed to play Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals.