Rafael Nadal fully within his rights with Wimbledon withdrawal: Andy Roddick

Former World no. 1 Andy Roddick reckons Rafael Nadal was fully within his rights after he decided to withdraw from Wimbledon. Nadal was forced to pull out of the Championship after he suffered a 7mm muscle tear in his abdomen.

The Spaniard was struggling with his injury in the earlier round matches but aggravated it in the thriller quarterfinal clash against American Taylor Fritz. Despite the injury, Nadal didn’t throw in the towel and went on to beat Fritz in five sets.

The Spaniard was having difficulty while serving but he once again came out on top despite the pain. But after the scans came out, Nadal had no option rather but to pull out of Wimbledon, thus giving a free pass to Nick Kyrgios to the final.

The veteran was hoping that the injury would not be massive and he would be able to play in the semifinals but it wasn’t to be the case. Nadal revealed that it would get worse for him if he had decided to play in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, some fans thought Nadal should have retired in the quarterfinals against Fritz so that Nick Kyrgios wouldn’t have received a free pass to the final. In fact, Fritz also said he didn’t deserve to play in the semis if he could not beat Nadal.

“You can’t lose in the semis and win a slam,” Roddick said regarding a possible new ‘lucky loser’ rule that would have allowed Fritz to advance. “No, Rafa should’ve tried to win and then hoped that the scans weren’t that bad and that he could recover. “They weren’t and he can’t. [It’s] not his job to protect the other players.”

Furthermore, former American Tennis player Tracy Austin also agreed with Roddick.

“Couldn’t agree more,” she said whilst quote-tweeting Andy Roddick. “When you are in the thick of playing, you have no idea how it will feel next day. “Many times an injury feels better than you thought it would. You get to continue. “Can you imagine Rafa pulling out mid-match, then felt good enough to play, half way to calendar grand slam? No!”

Nadal is expected to take three-four weeks to recover from the injury.