Rafael Nadal - players.bio

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.

Rafael Nadal: Brilliant career cursed by injury

Rafael Nadal has collected a record 22 Grand Slam titles but a career plagued by injuries has undoubtedly robbed him of even more. On Thursday, his physical frailties returned to haunt him when he was forced out of Wimbledon with an abdominal injury, just a day before he was to face Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals. Before his latest setback, he had already missed 11 Grand Slam events stretching back to his debut in 2003. He has also now pulled out during a Slam five times.

'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.”