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Rafael Nadal's 'dangerous' revelation after Wimbledon withdrawal announcement: '...that I end my tennis career'
The decision was taken after Nadal felt discomfort in serving properly during the light 45-minutes practice session he had on Thursday
Rafael Nadal on Thursday announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon 2022, ahead of his semi-final match against Nick Kyrgios owing to an abdominal tear which he suffered during his five-set thriller against Taylor Fritz of U.S. during the quarterfinal tie on Centre Court on Wednesday. Following the big announcement, a day before the much-anticipated semi-final encounter, Nadal made a 'dangerous' revelation.
This is the very first time in Wimbledon history where a player got a walkover in the semi-final with Kyrgios managing to reach his maiden Grand Slam final. But the decision was taken after Nadal felt discomfort in serving properly during the light 45-minutes practice session he had on Thursday. The Spaniard revealed that had he risked everything to play the semi-final, it would have probably ended his career.
“The most dangerous thing that can happen today is that I end my tennis career, because I think that things are going to go better without a doubt,” he said. “As I always said, for me the most important thing is happiness more than any title, even if everybody knows how much effort I put to be here.
“But I can't risk that match and stay two, three months outside of the competition because that would be a tough thing for me. If that happens, it happens. But not because I was not doing things the proper way.
“That's my decision and I have to live with that. I can't say another thing. I am very sad and it has been a very tough one.”
The 22-time Grand Slam winner further explained his decision to make a late announcement on the withdrawal.
“The communication is too late because even as I am, I was thinking during the whole day about the decision to make,” he said.
“I tried a lot of times during my career to keep going under very tough circumstances, but in this one it's obvious that if I keep going, the injury is going to get worse and worse.”
Kyrgios will now await the winner of the second semi-final match between Cameron Norrie and defending champion Novak Djokovic, which will happen on Friday on Centre Court.
