(Tennis news) Rafael Nadal will not play his semi-final match against Nick Kyrgios after withdrawing from Wimbledon due to an abdominal issue. The 22 time Grand Slam winner defeated Taylor Fritz over five sets in the quarter-finals but clearly struggled with the abdominal problem, saying that he will seek medical advice ahead of his semi-final match on Friday. It’s evident that the Spaniard isn’t match fit and his withdrawal eliminates any chance of a calendar Slam, having already won the Australian and French Open.

In a press conference, Nadal said “Unfortunately as you can imagine I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament. 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 and the communication is too late. I was thinking the whole day about the decision to make but I think it doesn't make sense to go, even if I try through my career to keep going. It is very tough circumstances but it is obvious that if I keep going the injury will get worse and worse." 

This means that his semi-final opponent Nick Kyrgios will reach his first Grand Slam final with a walkover. Such is the uniqueness of this situation that it’s only the second walkover in a Grand Slam semi-final in the Open era, the first being between Jim Courier vs Richard Krajicek in 1992 at the Australian Open semi-finals while the last walkover at Wimbledon in the semi-finals was back in 1931. 

Nadal said “I never thought about the calendar slam, I thought about my diary and my happiness. I made the decision because I don't believe I can win two matches under the circumstances. It is not only that I can't serve at the right speed, it is that I can't do the normal movement to serve. After that to imagine myself winning two matches, and for respect for myself in some way, I don't want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level I need to play to achieve my goals." 

According to various reports in the Spanish media, Nadal has a 7 millimetre tear to his abdominal muscle. The 36 year old is expected to be sidelined for a month and he will target his comeback at the US Open. I had some issues in the abdominal area since the week but things were more or less, I was able to control it but yesterday was the worse day," Nadal said. “During the week I did tests to see how things evolved and it is obvious yesterday after the match, the very small thing I had days ago increased to a bigger thing. For me the most important thing is happiness, not titles, even if everyone knows what I have done to get here. I can't risk the match and risk two or three months out of the competition. It is my decision, I have to live with that and I can't say another thing. I am very sad."

Also read: Rafael Nadal defeats Taylor Fritz to reach the Wimbledon semi-final