Kei Nishikori, the No5 seed at Wimbledon, has pulled out of the tournament due to a left calf injury, the tournament referee Andrew Jarrett has announced.
The 25-year-old Japanese, who was runner-up at last year’s US Open, had been due to conclude Wednesday’s order of play on Centre Court against Columbia’s Santiago Giraldo.
Nishikori carried the injury into the tournament but won his opening match against Italy’s Simone Bolelli in five sets.
“It got better before the first match and I thought it was going to be OK,” Nishikori said, “but in the last match, in the fifth set, I was hurting too much.”
He tried to practice on Wednesday but felt too much pain.
“I decided not to play today,” Nishikori said. “It’s not a big injury, just a little tear. It’s very disappointing. I thought I was playing well on grass. I’m unfortunate to lose this chance.”
As a result of Nishikori’s withdrawal, Giraldo – the world No60 – has received a walkover to the third round where he will face the winner of the second-round match between Denis Kudla of the US and Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
