Rafael Nadal 'extremely concerned' about Wimbledon injury ahead of crucial scans

Rafael Nadal appeared "extremely concerned" about his abdominal injury the day after his Wimbledon quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz, claims Andrew Castle. Nadal is set to undergo scans after overcoming a muscle issue in his stomach to earn a sublime five-set victory over the American with a fifth-set tiebreaker.

But the Spaniard was unable to clarify the seriousness of the problem when he spoke after his 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 victory ( 10-4) on center court. As such, Nadal could not offer any guarantees that he will appear in court to face Nick Kyrgios in their semi-final scheduled for Friday.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion even admitted he was considering retirement during his four-hour, 20-minute clash with Fritz. And BBC senior commentator Castle commented after Nadal's on-pitch interview: "It looked good to me that he got through the game, I think he's extremely concerned, as you would be. , by the injury.

"Pat Cash is still with me. It sounded like he was already thinking, 'Are you gonna be okay?'" Cash added, "I think what he's going to do is be rated pretty quickly. Yes, he didn't. serve as well and move as well as he would have liked.

READ: Wimbledon crowd silence Nick Kyrgios as hapless Aussie moans at referee

"Sometimes these things are easier than they look. You can get a massage in the area, around the area, and it can relax everything. I think he will take precautions. He will go get a scan on and maybe he can get an ultrasound here at the [All England] Club now they have a whole medical team."

Nadal admitted, as the footage suggested, that his father told him mid-game that he had to retire from the game. And the 36-year-old says he is concerned about his fitness ahead of Friday's semi-finals, with Britain's No.1 Cameron Norrie facing top seed Novak Djokovic in the other clash of the last four. Nadal said: "It's [retirement is] something I hate to do. So I keep trying, and that's it.

"I play very well. I have a lot of fun. The level of tennis, if we put aside the problems - something difficult, the feeling I have with the ball in my hand is really great.< /p>

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“I feel very good playing. Now I am honestly worried. thing that comes to play on grass. Can happen on any surface."

Nadal is 6-3 against Kyrgios and has won his last three meetings. The pair first met at Wimbledon in 2014 when the Aussie earned a round of 16 draw on his SW19 debut - it was the first time he has gone past the quarter-finals since then. The last time the two met in the Championships was in 2019, when Nadal won in four sets.

The pair have a famously frosty relationship and after Kyrgios won a clash at the Mexican Open in Acapulco the same year, Nadal said: "He's a player who has enormous talent, who could win games. Grand Slam tournaments or fighting for the No. 1 ranking. He lacks respect for the public, his opponent and for himself. I don't think he's a bad guy, but he lacks a little respect for the public. and the adversary."