Wimbledon men’s final situation afterRafa pulls out
There were unprecedented scenes at SW19 this year as 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal had to pull out of the tournament at the semi-final stage. Wimbledon has, of course, seen withdrawals before, but never from such a high-profile player so deep into the event, and it means an early outsider with offshore betting sites is now in the final.
The 36-year-old Spaniard succumbed to an abdominal injury on Thursday. It was an injury that he had picked up in the quarter-final on his way to defeating American Taylor Fritz. It says a lot about Rafa’s competitive spirit – and about the role adrenaline plays in sports – that he was even able to finish the match against Fritz, let alone win it.
The withdrawal was painful for the millions of Nadal fans all over the world. He is getting up there in age and with each major, that passes by we are one step closer to his all-time great career coming to an end. Seeing stars like Nadal and Roger Federer lose on the court is one thing, but to have a player of his stature taken out of the event through injury is just frustrating.
One person who might have been slightly less frustrated is Australian Nick Kyrgios. The 27-year-old was set to play Nadal in the semi-final as he aimed to reach his first-ever Grand Slam singles final. With the news of Nadal’s withdrawal, Kyrgios was awarded a walkover and – according to reports – slept for just one hour that night as the news sunk in that he would be standing on center court on the 14th day of Wimbledon 2022.
There were some fans wanting Fritz to be moved into the semi-final spot to give Kyrgios an opponent to beat to make the final. One reason for this was that the unseeded player had to play one less match than the final opponent Novak Djokovic. The No. 1 seed booked his place in the final with a win over British player (and No. 9 seed) Cameron Norrie in the other semi.
This, however, feels like the right decision. Promoting Fritz as a ‘lucky loser’ would really devalue the compatito0n going forward. It would be adding a rule just for the sake of it, something that never seems to work out well. Instead, we will get to see Novak take on Kyrgios in an intriguing-looking final on Sunday.
