The 22-time Grand Slam champion was scheduled to face Nick Kyrgios in the semifinals on Friday. Kyrgios will now go straight to the final to face off against the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie.
“I have to withdraw from the tournament,” Nadal said during a press conference on Thursday. “I have a tear in my (abdominal) muscle.”
Nadal said he spent the whole day thinking about what to do but decided it wouldn’t make any “sense” to continue.
“As I continue, the injury will only get worse,” he said, adding how “sad” he was about it.
Nadal hinted that part of his decision was based on the fact that he had to win two games, the semifinals and the final, to win the championship.
“I don’t think I can win two games,” he said. “I don’t want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level I need to reach my goal with a huge chance of making things a lot worse.”
Nadal said he expects three to four weeks of recovery and as expected wants to return to compete in the upcoming tournaments.
The Spaniard said the injury had bothered him for around a week but had worsened during that time his grueling quarterfinal match against Taylor Fritz on Wednesday. Despite going through 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, he appeared to be struggling with an abdominal injury at times.
CNN’s Matias Grez contributed to this report.