Bulgaria’s Dimitrov was leading an enthralling contest 6-3, 7-5, 2-2 before being seriously injured. After being caught up by injury during the match, he appeared to be in serious discomfort, and Sinner rushed over to help.
After Dimitrov returned to his chair, he received medical treatment. Then he briefly left the court only to return teary-eyed to call off the match and shake hands with the Italian star player. He received a standing ovation as Sinner accompanied him off the court.
Dimitrov served an ace out wide to hold serve for 2-2 in the third set and then collapsed in pain, holding his right pectoral muscle. The Bulgarian showed initial signs of the injury after he missed a low backhand volley at 40/0 in that game. He swung his arm across his body to take the shot, then reached for his pectoral muscle.
For Dimitrov, 34, it is the latest in a series of injury struggles; he retired injured from his first-round matches at the Australian Open and French Open.
Notably, world number one Sinner had also taken a medical timeout midway through the second set for an apparent elbow injury. He had looked uncomfortable after he fell in the opening game but later appeared to be finding his rhythm when Dimitrov’s injury surfaced.Following the match, Sinner said, “Honestly, I don’t know what to say. He is an incredible player; I think we all saw this today. He’s been so unlucky in the past couple of years. An incredible player and a good friend of mine, also, we understand each other very well off the court, too. Seeing him in this position, honestly, if there were a chance that he could play the next round, he would deserve it,” as quoted by ATPTour.com. “I hope he has a speedy recovery. It’s very unlucky from his side,” added Sinner. The world number also stated that he does not take this as a win and calls it a “very unfortunate moment.” As far as Dimitrov’s battle with injuries is concerned, the latter stages of his career have been marred by injury. It is pertinent to mention that, besides the Bulgarian, no other player has been forced to retire injured from ATP Tour matches more often than him. He has now quit 12 matches. He has retired injured on each of his past five Grand Slam appearances, including at this year’s French and Australian Opens.
Sinner will next face World No. 10 Ben Shelton in the quarter-final. This will be his fourth consecutive appearance in the Wimbledon quarter-final. Shelton, 22, American, earlier rallied past Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(1), 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at SW19 for the first time.
