Nick Kyrgios has posted a message to Rafael Nadal after the Spaniard’s withdrawal from Wimbledon ahead of their semi-final clash. Nadal has pulled out of the tournament due to a torn abdominal muscle.
He was set to play Kyrgios in the second men’s semi-final on Friday. But now the Australian has been handed a walkover into Sunday’s final, where he will face either Novak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie.
Reacting to the news of Nadal’s withdrawal, Kyrgios wished the 35-year-old well in his recovery. He wrote on Instagram: “Verified different players, different personalities. @rafaelnadal I hope your recovery goes well and we all hope to see you healthy soon. Till next time…”
Kyrgios was set to participate in his first-ever Grand Slam semi-final. But now he will play his first-ever final without having to win in the last four.
Speaking at his press conference, Nadal says he would have missed up to three months of action if he went through with the Kyrgios match. He said: “The most important thing is happiness more than any title.
“I can’t risk that much and stay two, three months outside of the competition because that’s going to be a tough thing for me. If that happens, it happens, not because I was not doing things the proper way.”
Nadal missed his scheduled practice session on Court 10 on Thursday. He instead decided to have a session away from the cameras on a practice court.
But it appears that made his mind up that he could not continue this week. He added: “The communication is late because even like that I was thinking the whole day about the decision to make but I think it don’t make sense to go, even if I tried a lot in my career to keep going.
“Very tough circumstances in that one I think it’s obvious if I keep going the injury is gonna get worse and worse. I made this decision because I can’t be competitive and win the next two matches. I don’t want to make things worse, but I am very sad.”
Nadal won the first two Grand Slams of the year but at the Australian Open and French Open. He was on course to win a Calendar Grand Slam for the first time in his career but now that will not be possible.