"I cannot win two matches under these circumstances" - Nadal on Wimbledon withdrawal
ATPFriday, 08 July 2022 at 09:45
Updated at Sunday, 26 January 2025 at 09:56
Rafael Nadal made many tennis fans sad on Thursday evening when he pulled out from the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, and he explained his withdrawal.
The tennis world couldn't wait to see Nick Kyrgios and Nadal battle it out on the Centre Court once again. Yet, the Spaniard was stopped by an injury. After withdrawing from the grass-court major, he held a press conference.
Nadal spoke a lot about his health during the press conference, explaining his withdrawal. The 22-time major winner said that in his current physical state, he wouldn't be able to play two matches.
"I have had to pull out of the tournament. As everybody saw yesterday [Wed] I was suffering with pain in the abdominal area – and that is confirmed, there is a tear in the muscle. I knew something was not okay there."
"The communication is too late, I was thinking during the whole day the decision to make. It doesn’t make sense to go. Even if I did it many times in my career to keep going, tough circumstances, it is obvious if I keep going the injury will be worse and worse. I feel very sad to say that."
"I believe I cannot win two matches under these circumstances, I cannot serve. It is not only I cannot serve at the right speed, I cannot do the normal movement to serve."
Since he has so many limitations when it comes to the basic shots, Nadal doesn't just want to go on the tennis court and not be competitive, which is also why he chose to withdraw.
"I don’t want to go out there and not be competitive. To be at this level to play to achieve my goal, there is a big chance to make things much worse."
Only a few weeks ago, Nadal was troubled by a foot injury during the Roland Garros. Still, he completed the tournament, winning the trophy, but he had to use injections to numb his foot. Despite being able to win in Paris, the injury fears keep growing for him.
"To be honest, a couple of weeks ago, I saw my career very difficult because of the foot injury. Now that things are better in that case. That's the most dangerous thing that can today stop my tennis career, thinking that things are going better in that way without a doubt."
"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."
"If that happens, happens, but not because I was not doing the 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 have been a very tough one."
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