Rafael Nadal announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from Wimbledon after failing to recover from an abdominal injury, ending his hopes of a calendar Grand Slam.  Semi-final opponent Nick Kyrgios will receive a walkover into Sunday’s final. Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, was visibly in pain during in a gruelling five-set win against 11th-seeded American Taylor Fritz on Wednesday. Spanish sports daily Marca earlier Thursday reported that Nadal had a “seven-millimetre” tear to his abdomen but still intended to play.

But Nadal scheduled a press conference later in the day at which he confirmed he was withdrawing. “Unfortunately, as you can imagine, I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament,” said the two-time Wimbledon champion. “As everyone saw yesterday, I have been suffering with a pain in the abdominal and something was not OK there. That is confirmed, I have a tear in the muscle. It is very tough circumstances but it is obvious if I keep going the injury will be worse and worse,” he added.