No Wimbledon semi-final for Rafael Nadal: the Spanish champion decided to retire the day before the penultimate round of the tournament due to an abdominal injury, as explained by him at the press conference. “I believe that I cannot continue playing in these circumstances and feeling this pain”, explained his retirement to the reporters present in London.
It is the end, therefore, of his path to Wimbledon and the possibility of completing the Calendar Grand Slam, with the victory of all four Grand Slam titles in one year. The abdominal injury, however, was already an obstacle that prevented him from reaching the final goal in this third Grand Slam of the season, giving problems to the Iberian already in the quarter-finals.
In fact, Nadal had already shown pain and difficulty in the match against Taylor Fritz; despite this, the twenty-two-time Grand Slam winner had managed to snatch the victory from the American, who was unable to take advantage of the opponent’s moments of weakness.
After Rafa Nadal’s retirement, on social media they wondered if it would be fairer for Nadal to already give up the quarter-finals, so that Taylor Fritz could compete in the semifinals against Nick Kyrgios.
The American number one, however, has a very precise idea of this hypothesis.
Fritz’s reply
On Instagram, an account reported to Fritz of Nadal’s retirement only after winning the quarter-finals and the possibility for him to play a Wimbledon semi-final.
The winner of the latest edition of Indian Wells, however, immediately made it clear that this is not what he wanted. “I am not looking for charity. If I couldn’t beat him then I don’t deserve to be in the semifinals… simple ”: this is Fritz’s response on Instagram to one of the accounts.
the latest stages lucky loser option would be very very uncomfortable for the players https://t.co/OLosjd1kRf — enrico maria riva (@enricomariariva) July 7, 2022
With Nadal’s retirement, Nick Kyrgios will be the first Wimbledon finalist, the one coming out from the bottom of the scoreboard; on the upper part, however, the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie is expected.
