Kei Nishikori pulls out of Wimbledon due to injury
Thursday 2 July 2015 15:53, UK
Wimbledon men's fifth seed Kei Nishikori has been forced to pull out of the tournament due to a calf injury.
The 25-year-old from Japan, who was runner-up at last year's US Open, was due to play Santiago Giraldo of Colombia in the second match on Centre Court on Wednesday.
Nishikori suffered the injury in the build-up to Wimbledon but won his opening match against Italy's Simone Bolelli in five sets.
After suffering pain on the practice courts on Wednesday though, he made the decision to withdraw from the tournament, with the match between US Open champion Maric Cilic and Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis moved onto the show court.
"It got better before the first match and I thought it was going to be okay but in the last match, in the fifth set, I was hurting too much," said Nishikori.
"I decided not to play today. It's not a big injury, just a little tear.
"It's very disappointing. I thought I was playing well on grass. I'm unfortunate to lose this chance."
Giraldo will now face the winner of the match between Denis Kulda and Alexander Zverev in the third round.
