Wimbledon 2022: Rafael Nadal out of semi-final leads Nick Kyrgios straight to championship playoff

Nick Kyrgios is through to his first ever grand slam final after Rafael Nadal was forced to make the heartbreaking call to pull out of the tournament.

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has been gifted a place in the Wimbledon singles final after Rafa Nadal withdrew from the championship because of a gut wrenching injury.

The Spanish tennis legend was due to face Kyrgios in Friday’s second semi-final but called a press conference late on Thursday to announce he was unable to continue.

“Unfortunately…I have to pull out from the tournament,” Nadal said.

“I have been suffering pain in my abdominal. I knew something was not okay there and that’s confirmed. I have a tear in the muscle.

“It doesn’t make sense to go (play). I have tried a lot of times in my career to keep going but it is obvious the injury will get worse.”

With the walkover, Kyrgios will now play the winner of the other semi-final, between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Britain’s Cameron Norrie, in Sunday’s championship decider at the All England club.

Nick Kyrgios will now face either Novak Djokovic or Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the championship decider. Picture: AFP

Kyrgios becomes the first Australian man to reach the Wimbledon singles final since Mark Philippoussis in 2003 and is bidding to become the first male winner since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.

Kyrgios posted a picture of himself shaking hands with Nadal on his Instagram page with a get well note.

“Different players, different personalities. @rafaelnadal I hope your recovery goes well and we all hope to see you healthy soon. Till next time,” he wrote.

The 27-year-old’s semi-final against Nadal was looming as his biggest test so far even though it was clear all was not well with Nadal, the most prolific male grand slam winner of all time with 22 singles titles

He was in so much agony during his quarter-final against American Taylor Fritz the previous day that his own father and sister pleaded with him to quit there and then.

He refused to throw in the towel and soldiered through to win a fifth-set tiebreaker, but the damage had already been done.

The 36-year-old was ordered to undergo private scans in London on Thursday morning that revealed he had a seven millimetre tear in his belly.

And although Spanish media initially reported that he would still play against Kyrgios after he showed up at Wimbledon to practise on an outside courts, Nadal conceded the game was up.

“I made my decision because I believe that I can’t win two matches under these circumstances,” he said.

“I can’t serve. Not only that I can’t serve at the right speed, I can’t do the normal movement to serve.

“Out of respect to myself…I don’t want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level that I need to play to achieve my goal, and with a big chance of making things much worse.

“For me the most important thing is happiness more than any title, even if everybody knows how much effort I put to be here.

“I can’t risk that match and staying two, three months outside of the competition.

“That’s my decision and I have to live with that.”

For a player who prides himself on his toughness and has shown time and time again that he has the heart of a lion, it was a heartbreaking decision to quit.

It is such a rare occurrence for a player to retire so late in a grand slam.

Since tennis turned professional in 1968, only one male semi-finalist has withdrawn because of injury - Richard Krajicek at the 1992 Australian Open.

Richard Krajicek at the Australian Open in 1992 is the only other male player to withdraw from a grand slam semi-final due to injury in the professional era

At Wimbledon, first held in 1877, Nadal is the first semi-finalist to withdraw, either in the professional or amateur eras.

Nadal has won Wimbledon just twice before - in 2008 and 2010 - but with Roger Federer missing this year, he fancies his chances this year, with Djokovic lurking as his biggest obstacle.

Pulling out also cost Nadal perhaps his one and only shot at completing the calendar-year grand slam - the holy grail of tennis - after he won this year’s Australian Open and French Open titles, though he said that was the least of his concerns.

“I never thought about the calendar slam. I thought about my daily happiness and my daily work,” he said.

“Honestly, Australia was not an issue. I didn’t have many problems during the tournament.

“Roland Garros was very demanding, mentally especially and physically but after that, things were going better.

“I did all the things the best way possible to give myself a chance here. I was in the semi-finals so I’m playing at a very, very high level.

“That makes me feel a little bit worse because I felt that playing at the level that I was playing, probably I will have a chance.”

Nadal has been battling excruciating injuries and his withdrawal will raise fresh queries about his much longer can keep going.

Rafa has been battling excruciating injuries throughtout the tournament. Picture: AFP

He said the gut rip that forced him out of Wimbledon had been troubling him for some time but he had no regrets about playing in discomfort and still hopes to be in New York next month for the US Open.

“I am not the kind of player or kind of person that when you make decisions, I look back and say, I should not have done that,” he said.

“Of course, you learn from mistakes. I have during my whole tennis career so I try not to repeat mistakes.

”I hope in three or four weeks I can do my normal calendar.”