Rafael Nadal was his classy self while leaving Wimbledon as he thanked several members of the tournament’s staff before exiting SW19 for the final time this season. The Spaniard was forced to rule himself out of the rest of the tournament due to an abdominal injury he suffered in his quarter-final victory over Taylor Fritz.
Spotted in a video from Spanish TV station RTVE, as Nadal left he made sure to stop and thank the staff members for their help during his time in Wimbledon and posed for several photos. After spending some time with fans and staff that he got to know during his time at the tournament, he ended with a message. “Thank you so much for everything,” Nadal said. “Hope to see you next year.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion aggravated an abdomen injury he had been suffering from, and called a press conference on Thursday to announce his withdrawal from the tournament ahead of a semi-final with Nick Kyrgios, who was awarded a walkover to the final.
“I have to pull out from the tournament,” Nadal told reporters. “As everybody saw yesterday I have been suffering with the pain in the abdominal, I know something was not okay there as yesterday I said and yeah, that’s confirmed I have a tear in the muscle, in the abdominal.
“Very tough circumstances in that one I think it’s obvious if I keep going the injury is gonna get worse and worse. I made this decision because I can’t be competitive and win the next two matches. I don’t want to make things worse, but I am very sad.”
