Heroic heroics by Nadal! He has a seven-millimeter muscle tear, but still wants to play in the semifinals

Heroic, heroic, almost insane. In the case of Rafael Nadal, you’re running out of superlatives. The Spanish tennis player finished the quarterfinals with a seven-millimeter tear in his abdominal muscle and still won in the end. And despite this health problem, he wants to play Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals.

From the first set against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, it was obvious that something was wrong with Nadal. His serve was extremely slow for his habit, he made a lot of errors and was very limited in his movement.

After the first set, he had to hobble to the locker room, where a physiotherapist looked at him. “From 3-1, I felt like I was hit with a whip every time I served. I thought I wasn’t going to finish the match,” Nadal explained after the match.

The problem was in his abdominal muscle, which was subsequently tweaked. Later in the match he had to adjust his serve to be less aggressive and not to strain his abdominal muscle so much. He had to do the same with his backhand. And he still found his way to victory.

At the press conference afterwards, he said that he would play in the semifinals, depending on the results of his examination. And here they are. As reported by the leading Spanish newspaper MARCA, Nadal has a 7mm tear in his abdominal muscle. He underwent the tests this morning in London.

But he still wants to play Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals. That’s scheduled for Friday afternoon.

It wouldn’t be the first time Nadal has played with a similar medical handicap. At the US Open in 2009, he entered the semifinal against Juan Martín Del Potro with a two-millimeter tear in a muscle and finished the match.

But seven millimetres is quite a lot, and since it is not a muscle in the leg but in the abdomen, it restricts his serve and especially his backhand in addition to his movement. If even with this injury Nadal could win the match, it would be one of the most heroic performances in tennis history.

Source: MARCA