Rafael Nadal has given up his struggle to win the calendar Grand Slam by pulling out of Wimbledon.
The 36-year-old Spaniard announced he was pulling out after a 45-minute practice session earlier in the day in which he clearly looked hampered.
By doing so he gave Nick Kyrgios a free pass into what will be his first grand slam final.
The 27-year-old Australian will meet the winner of Novak Djokovic versus cam Norrie in an altered Centre Court schedule.
Nadal stays unbeaten at Slams in 2022 after winning the Australian and French Opens. He decided that the abdominal injury hindering his serve was not going to allow him to compete properly.
At a press conference yesterday at 7:20 pm, 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 from 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 I was thinking about the decision to make but I think it doesn’t make sense to go, even if I try throughout my career to keep going. It is very tough circumstances but it is obvious if I keep going the injury will be worse and worse.”
“I never thought about the calendar slam, I thought about my diary and my happiness,’ Nadal said.
“I make the decision because I don’t believe I can win two matches under the circumstances. It is not only I can’t serve at the right speed, it is 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.”
Nadal ignored calls from his box to retire hurt with an abdominal problem in his comeback five-set win over Taylor Fritz in their quarter-final.
His father Sebastian and sister Maria were both caught by the television cameras frantically gesturing for him to forfeit Wednesday’s last-eight encounter.
But after taking a medical timeout midway through the second set, the Spaniard roared back to set up a Centre Court showdown with Kyrgios.
Asked if he would be able to continue in the tournament after beating American Fritz, Nadal said: “I don’t know. I am going to have some more tests but it is difficult to know.”
Kyrgios, who has been centre of attention throughout the tournament, now has a golden opportunity in front of him.
He will wait to find out whether it is Djokovic or Norrie facing him on Sunday and will relish the chance to silence his critics.
Earlier in the tournament, he spat in the direction of an abusive fan and called a line judge a ‘snitch’.