Nadaru withdraws from Wimbledon before semi-final due to injury

Wimbledon, England-Rafael Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon on Thursday the day before he was to face Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals due to a broken abdomen.

This is the first time a man has withdrawn from the oldest Grand Slam tournament before the semi-finals or finals since 1931.

“I made the decision because I believe I can’t win two games in this situation,” Nadaru said at a press conference at the All England Club. Not only can we not serve at the right speed, but we may not be able to serve at normal speed. “

The 22 Major Champions sighed for a total of more than 20 minutes while answering questions in English and then Spanish. He twice described himself as “very sad.”

Nadaru said that trying to continue the competition could exacerbate the injury.

Nadaru withdrew from the Grand Slam tournament before the match and won a walkover against his opponent only when he withdrew before the third round at the 2016 French Open due to a left wrist injury.

27-year-old 40th-ranked Kyrgios from Australia advanced to his first title match in a major tournament and became Wimbledon’s first unseeded male finalist since Mark Phillipsis lost to Roger Federer in 2003. ..

Kyrgios will face three defending champions and No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic or No. 9 British Cameron Norrie in the Sunday Championship. Their semi-finals will take place on Friday.

The 36-year-old second-seeded Nadaru from Spain is 19-0 in the 2022 Grand Slam Action, including the trophy at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. It put him on the way to the Grand Slam of the calendar year for the first time in his career.

Nadaru has been suffering from stomach muscles for about a week, and the pain was almost intolerable in the first set of a 4 hour 21 minute victory with Taylor Fritz in the fifth set of tiebreakers in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. ..

After the match, Nadaru said he was thinking of stopping before the match was over. And it wasn’t clear if he would feel good enough to play again on Friday.

He wore two exercise tapes on his lower abdomen and took a medical time out to take painkillers. His father and sister moved from the stand for him to quit.

On Thursday’s holiday, Nadaru went to the All England Club for a light practice session. He signed up to train on one of the competition courts on the official schedule, but he didn’t show up there. Instead, I chose a practice court that fans couldn’t access.

Nadaru was mainly happy to hit the forehand and backhand and tried several serves. He said that in some of his games it was most obvious that he couldn’t play at full power and he was the most offensive to Fritz. These exercises, which take place on Thursday, were commonly used by Nadaru’s standards, rather than the physical activity he normally uses.

“I was thinking about making decisions all day,” Nadal said.

Not far from what happened at the French Open Nadal. He repeatedly injected to paralyze the chronic pain in his left leg, claiming he didn’t know when he would be out of court.

After he left Paris, he tried a new treatment, which worked well enough and he was able to walk without limping, Nadal said.

His level of play in five games on Wimbledon’s turf was as high as he thought he had a chance to win his third title in the tournaments that followed 2008 and 2010.

Of course, the injury changed the situation.

“I don’t want to go out there. I’m not competitive enough to play at the level I need to play to reach my goal,” he said.

Nadaru said he thought he might be on the sidelines for about a month or so. The US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, will begin on August 29th.