Rafael Nadal suffered a loss in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors to teenager Borna Coric on Friday and then shut down his season to undergo appendix surgery.
The nine-time French Open champion and 14-time grand slam title winner went down 6-2 7-6 (7-4) before confirming he will have his appendix removed on November 3.
Given the circumstances the 28-year-old Spaniard said there was no logic in him competing at either next week's Paris Masters or the eight-man World Tour Finals in London from November 9.
"This is the day to say goodbye for the season," said Nadal. "It's the day to say I had a good first six months this year.
"But it was hard after that with back and (three-month summer) wrist problems and now the appendix. I'm not going to play Paris or London, I'm not competitive enough to do that.
"I need to do the surgery, I need to work on my back next week before the operation. Then I need five weeks to recover."
Top seed Roger Federer turned in another command performance, mowing down fifth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov as the Swiss continued his bid for a sixth home trophy.
Federer posted a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 win to set up a semi-final with the biggest server in the game, Ivo Karlovic after the eighth seed beat German Benjamin Becker 6-4 6-4.
"It's like a penalty shootout playing him," said Federer of the leading ace-maker on the ATP this season with more than 1000.
"You just pick a side on his serve and hope you are right. There's really no strategy."
Federer's win was his 65th of the season and lifted his record at the tournament to 54-9.
Nadal, who had been taking antibiotics to treat appendicitis since the Chinese swing of the tour earlier this month, said his goal is to have a month of training in December when his physical problems are mended.
"If I play the last two tournaments, I would not be competitive and would have no chance to win. It is better for me to recover. I hope to be back at the start of 2015 ready for anything."
Coric's win in just under one and three-quarter hours announced the 17-year-old Croatian as a name for the future.
The wildcard raced away with three straight breaks of Nadal, taking a 5-0 lead in the opening set.
"This is a huge surprise," said the world No.124.
"I couldn't believe I got to 5-0 in the first set against Nadal. I was scared he would start a comeback. But I stayed very calm and I played well."
David Goffin, seeded seventh, knocked off London year-end finals contender Milos Raonic, with the fourth seed from Canada exiting 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4.
Goffin and Coric face off in Saturday's other semi-final.
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