'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.”

Nadal, who was on course for a calendar slam after having won the Australian and French Opens this year, struggled during the quarterfinal against American Taylor Fritz. At one point during the second set, his father and sister were seen gesturing him to give a walk-over. But the Mallorcan typically continued to play and went on to win in fifth set tiebreak. The 36-year-old Spanish legend defended ignoring his family’s advice.

“Yeah, was the right decision because I finished the match. I won the match. I did the things that I felt in every single moment,” he said. “I am not the kind of player and the kind of person that when you make decisions, I going to look back and say, I should not be done that, or I should do another thing. “I