Rafael Nadal’s quest for a Calendar Slam has come to an unfortunate end after he announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon on Thursday evening.
There has been speculation over Nadal’s future participation following his five-set quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz. During that match, he underwent a medical time out for treatment on his abdomen and was seen crouching in pain after serving at times. Since then, Marca.com reported that he has suffered a 7mm tear in the region. Although during his press conference the 36-year-old didn’t comment on the exact size of his tear.
“I have a tear in the muscle in the abdominal,” Nadal confirmed.
“I tried a lot of times during my career to keep going under very tough circumstances but in this one, I think it’s obvious that if I keep going, the injury going to be worst and worst. I feel very sad to say that.”
It was during Nadal’s clash with Fritz that alarm bells start to ring in his camp. Both his father and sister were seen signalling to him to retire from the match but he refused to do so. Something he doesn’t regret even though it could have worsened the situation for him.
“It was the right decision because I finished the match. I won the match. I did the things that I felt in every single moment,” he said.
“I am not the kind of player and the kind of person that when you make decisions, I going to look back and say, I should not be done that, or I should do another thing.”
After coming through that marathon encounter, the Spaniard admits that it would have been near impossible for him to reproduce those heroics again against Kyrgios.
“I made my decision because I believe that I can’t win two matches (in a row) under these circumstances. I can’t serve. Is not only that I can’t serve at the right speed, it’s that I can’t do the normal movement to serve.”
As for the origins of the injury, Nadal said he has been troubled by his abdomen for roughly a week but the pain intensified following his match with Fritz. It is estimated that the 36-year-old will be out of action for between 3-4 weeks. A period which should have no impact on his plans for North America heading into the US Open which will start during the last week of August.
It is yet another Grand Slam where injury has troubled Nadal. At the French Open, he brought his doctor with him who administered injections into his foot to help treat a long-term condition. He suffers from Muller-Weiss syndrome which is a rare and degenerative condition affecting bones in the feet.
“Roland Garros was very demanding, mentally and physically. But after that, things were going better,” he explains. “The fact that I was here(at Wimbledon) shows how important is this tournament for me and how much I wanted to play here.’
“I did all the things the best way possible to give myself a chance. I am in the semifinals, so I’ve been playing very well the last couple of days.’
“That makes me feel a little bit worst because I felt that playing at the level that I was playing, probably I will have a chance.”
As a result of Nadal’s withdrawal, Kyrgios has become the first Australian man to reach a Wimbledon final since Mark Philippoussis in 2003. He will play either Novak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie who will play their semi-final match on Friday afternoon.
