Nadal’s slam bid over amid Wimbledon withdrawal
Rafael Nadal saw his dreams of another Wimbledon title ended by an abdominal injury as he handed Nick Kyrgios a walkover into his first grand slam singles final.
Nadal was clearly hampered in his quarter-final against Taylor Fritz, but battled to a five-set victory.
However, after scans revealed the severity of the problem, the 22-time grand slam champion made the decision to withdraw, saying: “I am very sad and it has been a tough one.”
The Spaniard revealed he has been struggling with the issue for the last week but it became significantly worse against Fritz and he was concernedaboutdoingmoredamage.
“I was thinking during the wholedayaboutthedecisionto make,” said Nadal. “But I think itdoesn’tmakesensetogo(on).
“Even if I tried a lot of times duringmycareertokeepgoing underverytoughcircumstances, I think it’s obvious that, if I keep going, the injury is going to be worse and worse.
“I made my decision because I believe that I can’t win two matches under these circumstances. I can’t serve. It’s not only that I can’t serve at the right speed, it’s that I can’t do thenormalmovementtoserve.
“Formethemostimportant thing is happiness more than any title. 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.”
After winning the Australian Open and French Open titles, Nadal had a chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to claim the calendar Grand Slam, but he said:“Ineverthoughtaboutthe calendar slam.
“I did all the things the best way possible to give myself a chance here.”