Rafael Nadal's father asks him to quit after severe injury in Wimbledon 2022; Watch

22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal announced his withdrawal from the Wimbledon Championships 2022, because of a torn abdominal muscle on Thursday. The 36-year-old was earlier spotted being in visible pain during his quarter-final win against Taylor Fritz, which raised concerns about his fitness ahead of the semi-final on Friday against Nick Kyrgios. Interestingly, a video from Nadal’s quarter-final match on Wednesday is currently going viral on social media, where his father can be seen asking him to quit the match.

In the video, Nadal’s father Sebastian Nadal, and his sister can be seen seated in the stands, before Sebastian reacts furiously to seeing his son suffering the pain and gestures him to quit. However, Nadal was too determined to quit the game, despite the severe abdominal pain and went on to win the match in the fifth set tie-breaker after losing two out of the first three sets. Nadal picked up the win with the scores of 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (10).

Watch Rafael Nadal's father asking him to quit the match:

'They told me I need to retire,' says Rafael Nadal

Following the conclusion of the match, in the post-match press conference, Nadal was asked about his family’s gestures towards him during his game. Answering the question, Nadal said, “They told me I need to retire the match, yeah. For me, it is tough to retire in the middle of the match, even if I had that idea for such a long time. I did it a couple of times in my tennis career, but it is something that I hate to do. So I just keep trying, and that’s it.”

When asked about his participation in the semi-final, Nadal said on Wednesday that he doesn’t know it yet. Nadal revealed they were slated to have tests on Sunday and things would become clear after that. However, speaking at a press conference at the All England Club on Thursday, Nadal confirmed his exit from the tournament, as he has suffered a torn abdominal muscle. 

'I can’t win two matches under these circumstances,' says Nadal

“I made my decision because I believe that I can’t win two matches under these circumstances. I can’t serve. It’s not only that I can’t serve at the right speed, but it’s also that I can’t do the normal movement to serve,” a visibly sad Nadal said. 

Meanwhile, Nadal’s exit from the Wimbledon 2022 means that he will not pick his third consecutive Grand Slam title win of the year. Nadal opened the 2022 season by winning the Australian GP 2022 and won the French GP 2022 before heading into Wimbledon 2022. With Kyrgios advancing into the final, the no. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie will lock horns in the second semi-final on Friday.

(Image: @Carlos_Ohm/Twitter/AP)