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sports Friday 8 July 2022
Injured Nadal out of Wimbledon; Kyrgios advances to final

By HOWARD FENDRICH stomach and took a medi-
AP Tennis Writer cal timeout to take painkill-
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ing pills; his father and sister
— Rafael Nadal withdrew motioned from the stands
from Wimbledon because for him to quit.
of a torn abdominal muscle On Thursday’s off day,
on Thursday, a day before Nadal went to the All Eng-
he was supposed to play land Club for a light prac-
Nick Kyrgios in the semifi- tice session. He was signed
nals. It is the first time since up on the official schedule
1931 that a man pulled out to train on one of the com-
of the oldest Grand Slam petition courts but did not
tournament before a semi- show up there, instead opt-
final or final. ing for practice courts to
“I made my decision be- which fans don’t have ac-
cause I believe that I can’t cess.
win two matches under Mostly content to hit fore-
these circumstances,” hands and backhands,
Nadal said at a news con- Nadal did attempt a few
ference at the All England serves — the part of his
Club. “I can’t serve. It’s not game that revealed the
only that I can’t serve at most obvious inability to
the right speed, it’s that I Spain’s Rafael Nadal announces that he is withdrawing from the semi-final of the Gentlemen’s play with full force and, he
can’t do the normal move- Singles during a press conference at The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, Thursday, July said, caused the most dis-
ment to serve.” 7, 2022. comfort against Fritz. Those
The 22-time major cham- Associated Press practice serves Thursday
pion sighed occasionally round because of an in- three-time defending has been bothered by a were generally tapped
while answering questions jured left wrist. champion and No. 1 seed stomach muscle for about in, by Nadal’s standards,
in English, then Spanish, for The 40th-ranked Kyrgios, a Novak Djokovic or No. 9 a week, and the pain be- not with any of the body-
more than 20 minutes total. 27-year-old from Australia, Cam Norrie of Britain for came nearly unbearable torqueing effort he usually
He twice described himself advanced to his first title the championship on Sun- in the first set of his 4-hour, uses.
as “very sad.” match at a major tourna- day; their semifinal will be 21-minute victory via fifth- “I was thinking during the
Nadal said trying to con- ment and becomes the played Friday. set tiebreaker against Tay- whole day about the deci-
tinue to compete could first unseeded men’s finalist The second-seeded Nadal, lor Fritz in the quarterfinals sion to make,” Nadal said.
make the injury worse. at Wimbledon since Mark a 36-year-old from Spain, is on Wednesday. It’s not far from what went
The only other time in his Philippoussis, who lost to 19-0 in Grand Slam action After that match, Nadal on with Nadal at Roland
career that Nadal gave a Roger Federer in 2003. in 2022, including trophies said he had considered Garros, where he took re-
walkover to an opponent “I hope your recovery goes at the Australian Open in stopping before it was over peated injections to numb
by pulling out of a Grand well and we all hope to see January and the French — and could not be cer- the chronic pain in his left
Slam tournament prior to you healthy soon,” Kyrgios Open in June. That put him tain whether he would feel foot and insisted he had no
a match came at the 2016 wrote in an Instagram post halfway to a calendar- well enough to play again idea when he might reach
French Open, when he addressed to Nadal. year Grand Slam for the Friday. He wore two strips of the point of not being able
withdrew before the third Kyrgios will meet either first time in his career.Nadal athletic tape on his lower to take the court.q

Pogačar wins 6th stage of Tour and takes yellow jersey

LONGWY, France (AP) — After an imposing sixth was super hard for the fi-
Tadej Pogačar is back in stage of nearly 220 kilo- nal climb and hectic and
the yellow jersey at the meters (137 miles) through everything. I guess I had
Tour de France. And it’s Belgium and northern good legs to push in the
earlier than perhaps even France — the longest of end.”
he expected. this year’s Tour — Pogačar Wout Van Aert was the
On the way to his wins in pulled away in the sprint leader heading into the
the 2020 and 2021 Tours, finish on the crest of the stage and was the focus
Pogačar took the yellow Côte des Religieuses to of attention with a break-
jersey in the mountains, take his first stage victory away, but was caught
but on Thursday all he this year ahead of David with 11 kilometers remain-
needed was the modest Gaudu and Michael Mat- ing. Van Aert dropped off
Côte des Religieuses hill in thews on Thursday. on the hilly final section of
the border town of Long- Pogačar now leads the the stage and eventually
wy. Tour by four seconds lost more than seven min-
Asked about the prospect ahead of American rider utes. Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the best young rider’s white
jersey celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth
of being back in yellow, Neilson Powless, thanks to Friday sees the Tour’s first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 220 kilometers
which wasn’t confirmed the bonus seconds based mountain stage and a (136.7 miles) with start in Binche and finish in Longwy, France,
when he was speaking, on stage placings. return to a place where Thursday, July 7, 2022.
Pogačar said in televised “Every time I win it’s even the UAE Team Emirates Associated Press
comments that for now he better,” Pogačar said. rider made his name. The
was focused on the stage “We rode the last two 176-kilometer seventh Planche des Belles Filles, sey from fellow Slovenian
win and “anything else is climbs really hard, it was stage runs from Tomblaine where he surged to vic- Primož Roglič in the penul-
just a bonus.” above our thresholds. It to a summit finish on La tory to take the yellow jer- timate stage in 2020.q