In a surprising turn of events, 22-time Grand Slam winning champion Rafael Nadal has pulled out of Wimbledon 2022 ahead of his semi-final match against Nick Kyrgios after suffering an abdominal injury.The Spaniard confirmed his withdrawal at a news conference on Thursday. “I made my decision because I believe that I can’t win two matches under these circumstances. I can’t serve,” Nadal said. “It’s not only that I can’t serve at the right speed, it’s that I can’t do the normal movement to serve. I have to say that, for respect to myself in some way, I don’t want to go out there, not be competitive enough to play at the level that I need to play to achieve my goal, and with a big chance to make the things much worse, no?” he added.

The Tennis champion further continued, “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’s going to be a tough thing for me.” Nadal’s scheduled semi-final opponent Nick Kyrgios will receive a walkover into Sunday’s final and will play against the winner of the second semi-final match between Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie.

We're sad to see it end this way, @RafaelNadal

Thank you for another year of unforgettable moments at The Championships#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/XadiEVxaWF

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2022