AGONY FOR NADAL
Rafa out injured so Kyrgios awaits for Norrie or Novak
RAFAEL NADAL’S quest for the calendar Grand Slam is over after he pulled out of the Wimbledon semi-finals last night due to a tear in his abdomen.
It means Nick Kyrgios is through to his first major final, where he’ll face the winner of today’s semi-final between Britain’s Cam Norrie and No 1 seed Novak Djokovic.
Nadal, 36, battled through the pain to win his quarter-final against Taylor Fritz on Wednesday. But, after a short afternoon practice, he declared: ‘I have to pull out of the tournament. As everybody saw, I have been suffering a pain in the abdominal. I have a tear in the muscle.
‘This communication is late because I was thinking about the decision all day. It doesn’t make sense to play. It’s obvious that if I keep going the injury is going to be worse and worse. I feel very sad to say that.’
The reigning Australian and French Open champion (right) expects to be out for around a month, but still hopes to play the US Open.
RAFAEL NADAL’S unlikely push for the calendar Grand Slam was always likely to be derailed by his increasingly uncooperative body. At the French Open he spoke of how his doctor had ‘put his foot to sleep’ to get through the tournament and that he was not prepared to have another course of injections for the grass season. Such has been his continuing success it is easy to forget that he is nearer 40 than 30 and that he missed the second half of last season with the first outbreak of foot problems. Only the nervousness of Taylor
Fritz when faced with such a huge opportunity stopped Nadal (below) from going out in the quarter-finals on Thursday, when even his family were urging him to quit. Spanish newspaper Marca reported yesterday that the 22-time Grand Slam champion had suffered a 7mm tear in his abdomen, but was still hoping to face Nick Kyrgios in today’s semi-final. Nadal managed 33 minutes of hitting on the Wimbledon practice courts yesterday, but when he called a press conference last night the writing was on the wall.
‘I made my decision because I believe I can’t win two matches under these circumstances,’ said Nadal. ‘I can’t serve. It is not only that I can’t serve at the right speed, it’s that I can’t do the normal movement to serve. ‘For respect to myself in some way, I don’t want to go out there and 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 things much worse.’ Asked about the end of his bid to win all four majors in 2022, the Australian and French Open champion replied: ‘I never thought about the calendar
Slam. I thought about my daily happiness and my daily work. ‘I am in the semi-finals, so I’m playing very well the last couple of days. That makes me feel a bit worse because I felt that, playing at the level I was, probably I will have a chance (to win the title).’ The 36-year-old still hopes to play the season’s final major in New York at the end of August. ‘It’s going to be around three, four weeks (to recover),’ he said. ‘So I hope it will allow me to do my normal calendar.’ The news was a huge disappointment to fans who had been anticipating a mouth-watering clash. Kyrgios versus Nadal always has a particular edge. The Australian posted on social media last night: ‘Different players, different personalities. Rafael Nadal I hope your recovery goes well and we all hope to see you healthy soon. Till next time...’ Nadal’s withdrawal does not make Djokovic a shoo-in for the title. Even if he gets past Cam Norrie, he has played Kyrgios twice and lost twice. Kyrgios now has a three-day gap between matches to get his body absolutely right. Wimbledon last night reversed an initial policy not to offer refunds. Ticket holders could go online and apply for a refund but only prior to midnight.