Nadal

Nadal struggled with an apparent abdominal injury in his quarterfinal match against Fritz, a rising American star who pushed Nadal to five sets.

He has been wearing a patch on his lower abdomen during the tournament that appeared to be an anti-inflammatory patch. Nadal played with what turned out to be a stress fracture in one of his ribs, which limited his ability to serve and strike his groundstrokes at full force. But as the match extended past four hours, he regained control and finished off the victory with a classic forehand winner from inside the baseline, complete with his bolo-whip finish behind his left ear. “I hope to be ready to play it; that’s the first thing,” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “For a lot of moments, I was thinking maybe I will not be able to finish the match,” he said, speaking to the Centre Court crowd. But for all his power and hustle, he could not hold his two-set-to-one lead and quickly lost command of the decisive tiebreaker, falling behind, 0-5, as Nadal summoned the shotmaking that has made him a 22-time Grand Slam singles champion.

Nadal now stands two match wins from his third Wimbledon title and his 23rd major championship. His chief rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are tied at 20 ...

Up 4-3, he left the court to see the trainer and presumably get painkillers of some sort. He closed it out on his serve with a forehand winner and then met Fritz at the net. In the second set, Nadal showed signs of dealing with a lower abdominal injury. “First thing, I hope to be ready to play it, that’s the first thing,” Nadal said. Yeah, for a lot of moments I was thinking maybe I will not be able to finish the match but the court, the energy is something else. Nadal has won 19 straight major matches this year after winning the Australian and French Opens in the same calendar year for the first time in his career.

WIMBLEDON, England — (AP) — Wincing from abdominal pain, unable to ply his customary relentless style of tennis, Rafael Nadal thought he might need to stop ...

“I would never put that burden on someone.” “That would probably be the most-watched match of all time.” “Obviously I’ve been advised by my lawyers that I’m unable to say anything at this time.” Kyrgios, who is ranked 40th, has garnered more attention for his behavior on and off the court than his skills with a racket in hand. “Probably hurts more than any loss I’ve ever had,” Fritz said. It’s clear something’s not right,” said Nadal, who will get tests Thursday for an issue that first cropped up nearly a week ago but got much worse at 3-1 in the first set against Fritz. “I’m obviously worried.” After Fritz took the third set, his big serve got broken three times in the next. Nadal stayed out there, adjusted his service motion and his strategy — and figured out a way to win. This time, the problem was a muscle in his stomach area, which had some athletic tape. “I feel like I let it kind of get to me a little bit.” “It definitely made me kind of think. Up in the Centre Court stands, Nadal's father was waving his arms, motioning to the 22-time Grand Slam champion to quit.

American Taylor Fritz said his Wimbledon quarter-final loss to Rafa Nadal was the most painful of his career, after the Spaniard mounted a remarkable ...

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On more than one occasion, Nadal remained hunched over after a shot and was holding his midriff. The two-time Wimbledon champion called the trainer out for an ...

"I am used to holding pain and play with problems. Nadal played through the pain barrier to win his 14th French Open title earlier this year, receiving injections in his foot before each match. I wanted to finish.

Rafael Nadal prevailed over the American Taylor Fritz in a fluctuating five-set quarter-final at Wimbledon to set up a semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.

Having squandered a break point that would have set him up, Nadal served to stay in the championships after nearly three hours of fretful struggle at 4-5, sealing it with his fourth ace of the match. But he threw it in the bin on his own serve, Fritz held and Nadal matched him, landing them up in the 10-point tie-break after 4hr 8min. Nadal broke early in the fourth set and held to lead 4-2, but overcooked a forehand to hand back the advantage at 4-4. Those ambitions took a hit in the eighth game, when a double fault put him 3-5 down, and Fritz punished him with two more aces to take the set. He is a win against Nick Kyrgios away from the final – possibly for a 60th time against Novak Djokovic – and the chance to win his third grand slam title on the spin. Taylor Fritz, 6ft 5in of towering American self-belief, did his best to bury a wounded legend here on Wednesday, but the 36-year-old Rafael Nadal would not stay down – against the advice of his worried father – and prevailed over five fluctuating sets to reach his eighth Wimbledon semi-final.

Rafael Nadal is banged up as he prepares to play his Wimbledon semifinal against Nick Kyrgios.

"It's difficult," Nadal said of playing through the injury. He wasn't even sure whether he would play in Wimbledon after a foot injury impacted him during his French Open win. However, the Spaniard doesn't know whether he will be able to continue with the tournament.

Second seed Rafael Nadal suffered a 7mm abdominal tear in his quarter-final win at Wimbledon ahead of his clash with Nick Kyrgios, reports have revealed.

Only Rafa Nadal, I think, can stay on the court and manage this type of situation because he is used to suffering so many of these types of injuries throughout his career." I am assuming he is not going to hit any tennis balls tomorrow and he’s going to take it very easy and recover. You could see Rafa was struggling with his abdominals, he probably played better when he was returning because he was using his hands more and hitting the ball a little harder. He added: "This is unreal, this is epic. He battled on valiantly and managed to overcome the American in a final-set thriller. Hopefully, Rafa can recover because we all want everybody to be healthy and then we will see what is going on.

Rafael Nadal is not sure if he'll be healthy enough to face Nick Kyrgios in semifinals of Wimbledon on Friday. Nadal suffered an abdominal injury during ...

"I am used to holding pain and play with problems. Without a doubt, today was the worst day, has been an important increase of pain and limitation." I wanted to finish.

Eurosport's Mats Wilander has said he is "completely amazed" by Rafael managing to come through his quarter-final with Taylor Fritz despite a nasty injury.

Only Rafa Nadal, I think, can stay on the court and manage this type of situation because he is used to suffering so many of these types of injuries throughout his career." it’s not the quarters of Wimbledon, it’s not the Centre Court, it’s just him and Taylor Fritz, and he feels like he can deal with this guy, even if he’s not 100 per cent.” You could see Rafa was struggling with his abdominals, he probably played better when he was returning because he was using his hands more and hitting the ball a little harder. "I’m completely amazed because I thought he was going to retire towards the end of the first set. "Rafa somehow finds the intensity to win the match even though he’s not 100 per cent. He battled on valiantly and managed to overcome the American in a final-set thriller.