Rafael Nadal He had pulled out of Wimbledon a day before the semi-finals due to a hamstring strain.
“Unfortunately, as you can imagine, if I am here, it is because I have had to withdraw from the tournament,” Nadal said during a news conference at the All England Club on Thursday.
22 time Grand Slam Champion He was to face Nick Kyrgios for a berth in the final on Friday.
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Kyrgios reached his first final in a major tournament. He will take on Novak Djokovic or Cam Nori for the championship on Sunday.
Nadal, seeded second, a 36 year old man from Spain, 19-0 in Grand Slam action in 2022, which includes trophies at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. This saw him halve a calendar-year Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
Nadal has been troubled by abdominal muscles for almost a week, and the pain became almost unbearable in the first set of his 4-hour, 21-minute win through a fifth-set tiebreaker against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
After that match, Nadal said that he had considered stopping. He took a medical timeout to take pain-relieving pills and was prompted from the stands by his father and sister to leave.
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On Thursday, Nadal went to the All England Club for a light practice session. He was signed up on the official schedule to train at a competition court, but did not show up there, choosing instead to practice courts where fans do not have access.
Content to hit mostly forehands and backhands, Nadal attempted a few serves – the part of his game that revealed the most obvious inability to play at full force and, he said, caused the most discomfort against Fritz. . By Nadal’s standards, the exercises he practices on Thursday don’t typically have to do with the body-torching effort he’s used to.
This is not too far from what happened to Nadal at Roland Garros, where he repeatedly took injections to ease chronic pain in his left leg, insisting he had no idea when that could happen. get to the point Because of not going to court.
