Nadal unsure he will be fit for Wimbledon semis

 London, July 8: Rafael Nadal admits he does not know whether he will be fit to face Nick Kyrgios in Friday’s Wimbledon semi-finals after an abdominal injury nearly forced him to quit against Taylor Fritz.

The second seed had to take a medical time-out in the second set but battled through to win 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/4) in a gruelling contest lasting four hours and 21 minutes.

Earlier, Australian maverick Kyrgios cruised past Chile’s Cristian Garin with relative ease 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, said in his post-match press conference that he was unsure over his ongoing participation in the tournament as he targets the third leg of a rare calendar Grand Slam. “I can’t give you a clear answer because if I gave you a clear answer and tomorrow another thing happens, I will be a liar,” said the 36-year-old.

Nadal, who was given pain relief during the match, said he would have tests before deciding whether to play on at the All England Club.

The Spaniard admitted his father and sister had been gesticulating for him to quit his quarter-final match against Fritz but said he “hated” the idea. “I fought,” he said. “Proud about the fighting spirit and the way that I managed to be competitive under those conditions.”

Kyrgios, ranked 40th in the world, is a major threat, even to a fully fit Nadal.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion leads 6-3 in their head-to-head meetings but Kyrgios beat the Spaniard on his way to the quarter-finals in 2014 before Nadal gained revenge three years ago.

Kyrgios canter

Kyrgios’s match on Court One contained none of the drama of Nadal’s match.

The 27-year-old was broken just once by Garin and hit 35 winners as he reached his first Grand Slam semi-final. “I never thought I’d be in the semi-final of a Grand Slam,” said the Australian. “I thought that ship had sailed, that I may have wasted that little window in my career.

“I am really happy I was able to come out here with my team and able to put on a performance.”

Kyrgios is the first Australian man into the semi-finals at Wimbledon since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005. But he went into the match under a new cloud of controversy after it emerged he faces an Australian court next month to answer an allegation of assault.

His 2022 Wimbledon has also been a rollercoaster on the court. Brilliant, crowd-pleasing shot-making has been accompanied by $14,000 in fines and an ugly, bitter spat with third-round rival Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Halep playing best tennis

Former champion Simona Halep said she is playing her “best tennis” as she set up a Wimbledon semi-final clash with Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina on Wednesday.

Halep, the 2019 winner, comfortably reached her third semi-final at the All England Club with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Amanda Anisimova of the United States. Russian-born Rybakina became the first player representing Kazakhstan to reach a Grand Slam semi-final when she defeated Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

“Definitely this is my best tennis,” said Halep, who missed last year’s Wimbledon with a calf injury. I am trying to build my confidence back, and it’s good.”

The Romanian 16th seed, who was also French Open champion in 2018, broke Anisimova’s serve four times in the match, wrapping up victory in just over an hour.

“It’s great to be back in the semi-finals,” said the former world number one. “I’m very emotional right now. It means a lot.”

Rybakina came from behind to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final, firing 15 aces past Tomljanovic, who had also made the last-eight in 2021.

“It is amazing. I am really happy to be into the semi-final. It was a really tough match,” said the 23-year-old Moscow-born player.  AFP