nadal PARIS, FRANCE – MAY 27: Rafael Nadal of Spain announces during a press conference that he is withdrawing from the tournament due to a wrist injury on day six of the 2016 French Open at Roland Garros on May 27, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
By Kevin Harrish on

After winning both the Australian Open and the French Open earlier this year, Rafael Nadal entered Wimbledon chasing tennis’s first calendar-year Grand Slam since 1969.

Unfortunately for Nadal, that bid has come to an end as the tennis star has withdrawn from the tournament ahead of his semifinal matchup with Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal tear.

As a result of Nadal’s withdrawal, Kyrgios will receive a walkover into the Wimbledon final where he awaits the winner of Friday’s match between Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie.

Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon with relative ease, dropping just two sets in his first four matches. In the quarterfinal matchup against Tanner Fritz, however, Nadal became hampered by an abdominal injury and was pushed to the brink before ultimately winning the match in a fifth-set tiebreak. While Nadal was able to finish and win that match, he was not able to continue in the tournament.

The news did not exactly come as a shock to those who watched Nadal’s pain-stricken performance against Fritz on Wednesday, but many took to Twitter to express their disappointment anyway.

While the withdrawal ends Nadal’s bid at the Grand Slam, it will not impact his ranking in any way as the ATP elected not to award ranking points at Wimbledon this year following the All England Club’s ban on players from Russia and Belarus.

[ESPN]

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