Rafael Nadal shares reason why he withdrew from Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal on Thursday withdrew from Wimbledon due to an abdominal injury. The Spanish star was able to battle through the injury to beat Taylor Fritz in five sets in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, but he withdrew the following day.

Why didn’t he try to keep pushing through the injury? The southpaw said Thursday that he didn’t think he could win two more matches given his condition.

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

The 36-year-old also said it wasn’t worth risking further injury. He’s reported to have a 7mm tear in his abdomen.

Nadal was set for a Friday semifinals battle against Nick Kyrgios. Instead, Kyrgios has reached the final due to a walkover. Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie will face off Friday in the other semifinal.

Nadal has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his career. He tried to play through his injury on Wednesday but decided the abdominal tear would be too much to overcome in further rounds.

Djokovic is trying to close the gap between him and Nadal for most majors ever. Djokovic needs to win two more matches for his 21st career major, but he’ll have to go through Norrie and a rested Kyrgios in order to get there.