If Jannik Sinner goes on to win his first Wimbledon title this weekend, he will look back on this moment as the time when his luck turned.
The world No 1 was trailing two sets to love – 6-3, 7-5, 2-2 – against an inspired Grigor Dimitrov, with a mountain to climb, when the Bulgarian hit an ace and then instantly fell to the ground clutching his pectoral muscle. He knew, there and then, that his Wimbledon was over and after a brief medical timeout, off the court, he returned in tears, before shaking Sinner’s hand.
The Italian goes through to a quarter-final against Ben Shelton, the big-serving American who advanced to the last eight at Wimbledon for the first time with an entertaining four‑set win against Lorenzo Sonego of Italy. It was not, of course, the way Sinner wanted to go through, but he lives on and maybe now he will believe the tennis gods are on his side.
“I don’t take this as a win at all, this is just an unfortunate moment for us to witness,” the world No 1 said. “He has struggled in grand slams with injuries a lot so seeing him again with this injury is very tough. We all saw by his reaction how much he cares about the sport and he is one of the hardest working players on tour. This is not the end we wanted to see and it’s very sad. If there was a chance for him to be in the next round he would deserve it. I hope he has a speedy recovery.”
It was brutal on Dimitrov, who had hit 36 winners, controlling the match in every way, but the incident means he has now pulled out through injury in each of the past five grand slam tournaments.
It was Sinner who seemed to be struggling physically early in the match, rubbing his right elbow at times and later, early in the second set, taking a timeout of his own. After the walkover, the Italian said he would be checking the elbow, probably with an MRI scan, to see if it was anything serious after slipping early on and banging it in the first game. “I felt it quite a lot, especially [on my] serve and forehand,” he said. “So let’s see. Tomorrow we are going to check to see how it is.”
The 34-year-old Dimitrov was playing the tennis of his life before his injury, dominating Sinner with brilliant serving – he lost just eight points on first serve – and beautiful slices that took the Italian out of his comfort zone.
Dimitrov had been to the quarter‑finals only once before, in 2014, the year he beat Andy Murray on the way to the last four. But for two and a bit sets, he was right at his very best. Some of his volleys were Roger Federer-like and even the great man, watching in the royal box, approved. Dimitrov has always had an abundance of talent, more options than most players, so many choices at his hand, and Sinner was forced into a series of uncharacteristic errors.
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The Bulgarian broke in the second game on his way to a 3-0 lead in the first set and maintained the lead to take the set. Another early break put him in charge in the second but Sinner looked to have turned it around when he broke back for 5-5. Dimitrov broke again to move ahead and served out to double his lead.
The roof was closed at the end of the second set, something Sinner would have been happy with, taking away the wind that had made life difficult. At 2-2, the drama happened. Dimitrov began the game serving and volleying, as he had done many times before, and hit his 14th ace, only to fall to the court immediately, clutching his right pectoral muscle. The pain was clear for everyone to see. Sinner came straight to his aid but it was obvious, even then, that nothing could be done. When he returned, Dimitrov was in tears and had to be helped from the court.
Shelton will present a big challenge too after coming through another hugely entertaining clash with Sonego. The pair produced magic, as they always do and, as has usually been the case, it was Shelton who came out on top to reach the quarter-finals here for the first time.
The left-handed Shelton, who has made the semi-finals of the US Open and Australian Open, served rockets, carved angles and slashed winners all over the place as he claimed a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 7-5 victory. It is 25 years since an American man – Pete Sampras – last won the title here, and the way Shelton plays makes him a threat.