Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios reach men’s singles semifinals at Wimbledon

LONDON — Wincing from abdominal pain, unable to play his customary relentless style of tennis, Rafael Nadal worried that he might need to stop playing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals against Taylor Fritz.

Up in the Centre Court stands, Nadal’s father was waving his arms, motioning to the 22-time Grand Slam champion to quit. Not surprisingly, perhaps, his kid didn’t listen. Nadal stayed out there, adjusted his service motion and his strategy — and figured out a way to win.

With much of the crowd roaring and standing after Nadal’s best strokes, he twice erased one-set deficits against 11th-seeded Fritz and emerged with a 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-4) victory Wednesday to reach his eighth semifinal at the All England Club.

“For a lot of moments,” Nadal said, “I was thinking, ‘Maybe I will not be able to finish the match.'”

On Friday, Nadal is scheduled to play Nick Kyrgios, a 27-year-old Australian who will be making his Grand Slam semifinal debut after a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Cristian Garin of Chile.

But will he? After being given anti-inflammatories during Wednesday’s match to “relax” the muscle, he said he wasn’t sure of his availability for Friday’s semifinal vs. Kyrgios.

“I don’t know. Honestly, I can’t give you a clear answer. I don’t know exactly what I have. It’s clear something’s not right,” said Nadal, who will get tests Thursday for an issue that first cropped up nearly a week ago but got much worse at 3-1 in the first set against Fritz. “I’m obviously worried.”

The other men’s semifinal will be No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 9 Cam Norrie.

Nadal got to his 38th career major semifinal by denying what would have been a first such appearance for Fritz, a 24-year-old American who defeated Nadal in the final at Indian Wells, California, in March. That ended a 20-match winning streak for Nadal, who was bothered that day by a painful rib injury.

This time, the problem was a muscle in his stomach area, which had some athletic tape, as was also the…