Jannik Sinner injury latest after dramatic Wimbledon withdrawal – ‘Going to be a problem’

World No.1 Jannik Sinner admitted he was concerned about his elbow injury after reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon thanks to the withdrawal of Grigor Dimitrov

Jannik Sinner will undergo a scan on his elbow on Tuesday after picking up a worrying injury in his match against Grigor Dimitrov on Monday night. The world No.1 made it through to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, but only after Dimitrov was forced to withdraw through injury.

Sinner was two sets down, with the score at 2-2 in the third, when Dimitrov dropped to the floor in agony following a serve. The Bulgarian has struggled hugely with injuries in the past few years and, after consulting the tournament’s medical professionals, decided to pull out.

Sinner was sad to see his friend suffering and declared “I don’t take this as a win at all”, but he also picked up an injury of his own which required the attention of the doctor on-court. The Italian fell early on in the match, hurting his elbow, and admitted he will need to get it checked out before facing Ben Shelton in the last eight on Wednesday.

“It happened very early in the match, [in the] first game,” Sinner explained. “It was quite an unfortunate fall. I checked the videos a little bit, and it didn’t seem [to be a] tough one, but I still felt it quite a lot, especially serve and forehand.

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“I could feel it. So let’s see. Tomorrow we are going to check to see how it is, and then we’ll see.”

He added: “Here they have good ATP physios, in any case. The doctor’s good. As I said, tomorrow we are going to check with [an] MRI to see if there’s something serious, and then we try to adjust it.

Sinner knows he will need to be at his best to face Shelton, with the No.10 seed in sparkling form at the All England Club so far. The American saw off Lorenzo Sonego in four sets to progress and will be eyeing an upset against Sinner.

Asked what he was expecting from Shelton, Sinner said: “Return of the serve, for sure, is the first thing. Obviously he has improved a lot in [the] back of the court. He had a great match against Carlos [Alcaraz] in Paris, too.

“He also knows how to play on every surface. I faced him last year here. It was a very, very difficult match. So let’s see what’s coming, but it’s going to be a problem in two days, no? Now I have to focus on other stuff first and hopefully be 100 per cent.”

Shelton had plenty of complimentary words for Sinner too. “Don’t really need to say anything there. The guy’s a machine,” he said before he knew the identity of his opponent.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for me to go for it and be aggressive and come after whoever I’m playing and try to get to the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time. So I want to play my best tennis late in these tournaments. To beat either of those guys in two days, I’m going to have to play at a really high level.”