Rafael Nadal pulls out of Wimbledon due to abdominal tear

First modification: 07/07/2022 – 21:47

The 36-year-old athlete, who has a men’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles, told the press that he had to withdraw from the tournament due to severe abdominal pain, a situation that, he said, makes him deeply sad.

“I cannot imagine winning two matches with this pain. For me, the most important thing is happiness and not the title, although everyone knows how much effort I put into this, since I cannot risk being out of the sport for two to three months. .

Following his triumphs at the Australian and French Opens in 2022, Nadal hoped to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete the slam of calendar. On Wednesday, June 6, battling through pain, he finished the game by eliminating Taylor Fritz in the Wimbleldon quarterfinals.

“I didn’t want to retire in the middle of a quarter-final and that’s why I held on yesterday. I found a way to finish the match and I’m proud, but once it was over I thought about the decision and this is the best for me and for my future,” he said. the tennis player.

The Spaniard’s retirement makes Kyrgios the first Australian to reach the men’s final at the All England Club since Mark Philippoussis in 2003.

However, Nadal told a news conference that he could have had a chance of beating Kyrgios “seeing the level he was playing at, I think he could have had a chance.”

Retirement

Rafael Nadal assured that the definitive abandonment of professional tennis is a “possibility that is still in my head.” However, for now he has not considered it and hopes that the rest of the next few weeks will allow him to recover and “to be able to continue training to continue with the calendar that I have in mind”.

With the announcement of this press conference, the Spaniard adds six premature retirements in his entire sports career. This same year he left the Masters 1000 in Rome, although he fell on the track against Denis Shapovalov, injured in the foot.

In the Wimbledon case, he said he wanted to stop before the injury to his abdomen turned into something much worse. “I can’t play for the rest of my career”, remembering what happened to him in 2009 when he was in a similar situation.

“My experience with this type of injury is already very long and as it happened to me in 2009 at the US Open and on other occasions, it is better to stop,” Nadal said.

In a training session held this Thursday morning, they tried to find alternatives to the pain he felt by changing the style of serve, but the pain did not allow him to continue with the day.

“I’m not happy, obviously, but tomorrow I’ll see everything differently. I’m usually a person who looks at the good and bad things and looking at the scale, I can’t complain because I’ve enjoyed everything I could and it’s not the time to lament “.

The medical tests that were carried out revealed a seven-millimeter tear in the abdomen, so he only has to rest for the next few weeks.

Rafael Nadal’s success story

Despite this Thursday’s announcement, Rafael Nadal has made history in matches that will remain in the memory of all fans of this sport in the world and not in vain is he cataloged as the best Spanish athlete of all time.

During his professional career, he has won 22 Grand Slams, including 14 at Roland Garros, the last of them this year. In addition, he has two Wimbledon, two Australian Open and four US Open titles and is the only tennis player in history to have reached at least one Grand Slam for ten years in a row.

During this 2022 he managed to become the tennis player with the most Grand Slams in the entire history of the sport, beating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer by two who have 20. Rafael Nadal has achieved this advantage by his victory against Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open and against Casper Ruud at Roland Garros in 2022.

Since he participated in the ATP circuit in 2002, the Spaniard has not stopped collecting successes in various parts of the world, in total he has 92 individual titles, which are added to the collective and Davis Cup titles, surpassing 100.

With information from EFE and Reuters.