Novak Djokovic is preparing for Friday’s Wimbledon semi-final against Cameron Norrie safe in the knowledge that his greatest rival Rafael Nadal no longer stands in the way of a 21st Grand Slam triumph.
The Spanish second seed was Thursday forced to pull out before his last-four match against Nick Kyrgios with an abdominal injury, admitting defeat in his race to be fit.
Nadal’s withdrawal deprives the tournament of a blockbuster semi-final against Kyrgios, which had been on the cards since the Australian beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a bad-tempered third-round match.
Kyrgios will have an enforced break before Sunday’s final while Djokovic, the top seed, can now see the path to a fourth consecutive Wimbledon title opening up before him.
The Serb had to come back from two sets down against Italian 10th seed Jannik Sinner in his quarter-final on Tuesday.
But the 35-year-old finished the match looking fresh, even pulling off an outrageous winner while doing the splits.
Djokovic is on a 26-match winning streak at Wimbledon as he seeks to draw level with Pete Sampras on seven titles at the All England Club — just one behind Roger Federer’s men’s record.
He is also bidding to reach a record 32nd Grand Slam singles final, which would put him one ahead of Federer.
If he wins the title he would reach 21 Grand Slam titles, moving past Federer and just one behind Nadal in the race to be crowned the greatest of all time.
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