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The 22-time Grand Slam winner, Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the Wimbledon semi-final clash owing to seven-millimeter abdominal tear. Nadal's withdrawal meant Kyrgios is through to the final dashing the hopes of the star Spaniard, who was on for a calendar Grand Slam.
Nick Kyrgios will receive a walkover into the Wimbledon final, facing Novak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie. This would have been the Australian’s first slam semifinal.
Nadal was clearly hampered by injury in his comeback victory over Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, but he gutted out an impressive win. An abdominal injury impacted his serving ability and his movement at times.
The Spaniard announced his withdrawal from the event in a press conference Thursday evening in London, well after the conclusion of Thursday’s women’s semi-finals.
“Unfortunately, as you can imagine, if I am here, it's because I have to pull out from the tournament,” Nadal said during a news conference at the All England Club.
The Australian Open and French Open champion admitted in the aftermath of that success he was "worried" about the prospect of having to withdraw from the tournament, adding: "I don't know [if I will be able to play] – I am going to have some more tests, but it is difficult to know."
Nadal appeared on the practice courts on Thursday in a bid to find a way of competing but was unable to serve at full power, and reports said tests had revealed a 7mm abdominal tear.
The 36-year-old's efforts were ultimately in vain as he confirmed he was pulling out at a news conference later on Thursday.
Nadal was looking to reach his first Wimbledon final in over a decade, last closing out the tournament in 2011.
Kyrgios now becomes the first Australian to reach a Major final in over 17 years since Lleyton Hewitt’s 2005 Australian Open run.
Nadal has been bothered by a stomach muscle for about a week, and the pain became nearly unbearable in the first set of his 4-hour, 21-minute victory via fifth-set tiebreaker against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
After that match, Nadal said he had considered stopping. He took a medical timeout to take painkilling pills and his father and sister motioned from the stands for him to quit.
On Thursday's off day, Nadal went to the All England Club for a light practice session. He was signed up on the official schedule to train on one of the competition courts but did not show up there, instead opting for practice courts to which fans don't have access.
Mostly content to hit forehands and backhands, Nadal did attempt a few serves — the part of his game that revealed the most obvious inability to play with full force and, he said, caused the most discomfort against Fritz. Those practice serves Thursday were generally tapped in, by Nadal's standards, not with any of the body-torqueing effort he usually uses.
It's not far from what went on with Nadal at Roland Garros, where he took repeated injections to numb the chronic pain in his left foot and insisted he had no idea when he might reach the point of not being able to take the court.
