Rafael Nadal pulls out of Friday’s Wimbledon semifinal against Nick Kyrgios with a torn abdominal muscle
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Record 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from his Wimbledon semifinal match versus Nick Kyrgios.
On Wednesday, Nadal was clearly hampered by an abdominal injury and he required an off-court medical timeout during the second set of his Wimbledon quarterfinal versus Taylor Fritz.
Nadal was able to finish the match and win in five sets but it was evident that the abdominal injury was causing him problems as he wasn’t serving as fast as he would normally do. On Thursday, the worst fears became reality when Nadal decided to withdraw from his semifinal match due to an abdominal injury.
After beating Fritz, Nadal indicated he might be forced to give a walkover to Kyrgios. “I don’t know,” Nadal told Reuters on Wednesday when asked if he would be able to face Kyrgios. “Honestly, I can’t give you a clear answer because if I gave you a clear answer and tomorrow another thing happens, I will be a liar.”
“I am used to holding pain and play with problems. Knowing that, when I feel something like I felt, that is because something is not going the proper way in [my] abdomen. But let’s see. I had these feelings for a couple of days.
Without a doubt, today was the worst day, has been an important increase of pain and limitation,” Nadal said after beating Fritz. Nadal will now likely take some time off to address the issue and hopefully we see him back in action during the North American hard court swing.
