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Rafael Nadal ignored his family’s pleas to retire mid-match as he battled through injury to beat Taylor Fritz and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.
Nadal admits he does not know whether he will be fit to face Nick Kyrgios in Friday’s Wimbledon semi-finals after an abdominal injury nearly forced him to quit against Taylor Fritz.
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‘THOUGHT SHIP HAD SAILED’: Emotional Kyrgios reaches first-ever Grand Slam semi
The second seed had to take a medical time-out in the second set but battled through to win 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/4) in a gruelling contest lasting four hours and 21 minutes.
Nadal admitted his father and sister had been gesticulating for him to quit his quarter-final match against Fritz but said he “hated” the idea.
“They told me that I need to retire the match,” Nadal said.
“Ah well, I tried. For me it was tough to retire it 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 and it’s something that, I hate to do it. So I just keep trying and that’s it.”
Nadal, who was given pain relief during the match, said he would have tests before deciding whether to play on at the All England Club.
The Spaniard admitted his father and sister had been gesticulating for him to quit his quarter-final match against Fritz but said he “hated” the idea.
“I fought,” he said. “Proud about the fighting spirit and the way that I managed to be competitive under those conditions.” Kyrgios, ranked 40th in the world, is a major threat, even to a fully fit Nadal. The 22-time Grand Slam champion leads 6-3 in their head-to-head meetings but Kyrgios beat the Spaniard on his way to the quarter-finals in 2014 before Nadal gained revenge three years ago.
Whether he takes the court on not, Nadal’s performance in the quarter-final left many in awe about his toughness once again.
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