Kyrgios in men's final as Nadal pulls out injured
Rafael Nadal pulled out of Wimbledon with an abdominal injury on Thursday, handing a place in the men's final to Australian maverick Nick Kyrgios and ending his dreams of a completing a rare calendar-year Grand Slam. Kyrgios, ranked 40, will play either top seed and six-time champion Novak Djokovic or British ninth seed Cameron Norrie, who meet in the remaining semi-final on Friday. Two-time champion Nadal was visibly in pain during his gruelling five-set win against American Taylor Fritz on Wednesday and indicated afterwards that he may not be able to continue. Spanish sports daily Marca reported that Nadal had a "seven-millimetre" tear to his abdomen but still intended to play. But the 36-year-old scheduled a press conference on Thursday evening at the All England Club at which he confirmed he was pulling out. "Unfortunately, as you can imagine, I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament," said the 2008 and 2010 winner. "As everyone saw yesterday I have been suffering with a pain in the abdominal and something was not OK there. That is confirmed, I have a tear in the muscle." The second seed struggled throughout his match against 11th seed Fritz, but still managed to conjure a 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7/6 (10/4) win in four hours and 21 minutes. The 22-time Grand Slam champion was given pain relief during the contest and had a medical time-out in the second set, admitting his father and sister had been gesticulating for him to quit. He practised at Wimbledon on Thursday but in his 7.20pm press conference he admitted defeat. The Spaniard, who said he had had an issue with his abdominal muscles for the past week, admitted he had been struggling with what decision to make all day. Nadal had been still on course to win all four majors in the same year after he won the Australian Open before collecting a 14th French Open crown. The last man to achieve the feat was Australian Rod Laver, in 1969. But Nadal said he wanted to put his health first, fearing that playing on would only worsen the injury. (AFP) ______________________________
Last updated: 2022-07-08 HKT 10:21 