Rafael Nadal rejected pleas from his father and sister to retire from his Wimbledon quarter-final against Taylor Fritz after suffering from abdominal pain.
The 36-year-old, who played on to claim a stunning victory in over four hours, said he does not know if he will be fit enough to play against Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals on Friday. “I can’t give you a clear answer,” he said.
Nadal took a medical timeout and received treatment during his epic five-set win over the American on Centre Court, with his closest family members gesturing for him to quit the match rather than suffering through the injury.
“They told me I need to retire the match,” Nadal said. “Well, I tried. For me was tough to retire in the middle of the match. Not easy even if I had that idea for such a long time.
“But on the other hand, I did it a couple of times in my tennis career. Is something that I hate to do it. So I just keep trying, and that’s it.”
When asked how he rates his chances of playing Kyrgios on Friday, Nadal replied: “I don’t know. Tomorrow I’m going to have some more tests. But difficult to know.
“It’s obvious that I am not the kind of player that I didn’t have a lot of things in my tennis career, so I am used to have things and I am used to hold pain and to play with problems.
“Knowing that, when I feel something like I felt, that is because something is not going the proper way. But let’s see. It’s obvious that today is nothing new. I had these feelings for a couple of days. Without a doubt, today was the worst day.
“There has been an important increase of pain and limitation. I managed to win that match. Let’s see what’s going on tomorrow.”
