“Something that I Hate to Do”

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Things took a turn for the worse for Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon when his abdominal injury was elevated to a much more painful lefel on Wednesday, but the 22-time Grand Slam champion refused to lay down his racquet and quit the match, despite the urging of his father and sister, who gestured to him in his coaching box during the second set.

“They told me I need to retire the match, yeah,” Nadal told reporters on Wednesday evening in Wimbledon’s main interview room.

“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 in 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.”

Now that he has produced a gritty five-set victory over Taylor Fritz to improve to 19-0 at the Grand Slams in 2022, Nadal is forced to contemplate the severity of the abdominal injury that has reared its ugly head during the Wimbledon fortnight.

“Tomorrow I am going to have some more tests. But it is difficult to know,” he said. “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 in abdominal, no?”

“For a lot of moments I was thinking maybe I will not be able to finish the match”

The mentality of a champion who never quits#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 | @RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/PEKGN1R9fU

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2022

Nadal has been dealing with the issue, and wearing kinesio tape to protect himself throughout the tournament, but on Wednesday against the hard-hitting American, the pain escalated. Here’s how he described it:

“It’s obvious that today is nothing new,” he said. “I had these feelings for a couple of days. Without a doubt, today was the worst day. Have been an important increase of pain and limitation. And that’s it… I managed to win that match. Let’s see what’s going on tomorrow.”

By the Way, I’m Playing Great

The injury is a concern, but Nadal can at least be happy with the way he is striking the ball when he isn’t hindered. He alluded to his form during his press conference.

“By the way, I’m playing great,” he said. “I am enjoying a lot. The level of tennis, if we…