Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon as a result of his injury.
The 22-time grand slam champion suffered the problem during his quarterfinal win over Taylor Fritz. Despite soldiering on during the match, the Spaniard had raised doubts about his participation in the later matches as a result of the ailment.
He was due to face Nick Kyrgios in the semifinal who has now reached his first grand slam final by default.
Kyrgios will take on either top seed Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for a fourth straight and seventh overall title at Wimbledon, or local hope Cameron Norrie.
The injury also ends his hopes of completing a calendar-year grand slam. Nadal won the Australian and French Opens back-to-back this year for the first time in his career and was bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete the calendar-year slam.
“Unfortunately, I have to pull out from the tournament,” the dejected Spaniard told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference, less than 24 hours before his semi-final.
“As everybody saw yesterday (in the quarter-final), I have been suffering with abdominal pain. I knew something was not okay there. Yeah, that’s confirmed. I have a tear in the muscle in the abdomen.
“I was thinking during the whole day about the decision to make”
Though not referred to when announcing his departure from Wimbledon due to the latest injury, Nadal has been dealing with a chronic foot problem for some time now and also suffered a rib injury earlier this year.
There was even doubt about his participation in this year’s competition but he still managed to make it to the semifinals in a commendable show of will and perseverance.
He can now heal up properly with ample time left between Wimbledon and the next grand slam.
