On Tuesday, Carlos Alcaraz became the first man to qualify for the 2025 ATP Finals in Turin after entering the semis at the grass major. The five-time slam winner is just two wins away from pulling off a three-peat at the All England Club. But what about his arch rival and No.1 seed Jannik Sinner? Unfortunately for the Italian, the situation has gone downhill after he sustained an on-court injury. What’s even worse? A big question mark on Sinner’s 2025 Wimbledon campaign.
For the uninitiated, he played against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round on Monday. And let’s say it was an encounter that made it tough for the Italian to continue his Wimbledon run. Though Dimitrov had a lead in the first two sets, in the third set (with the score being 2-2), he ended up withdrawing from the tournament due to an injury in his right arm. One can say Sinner got lucky, but not very much. In the same match, during the very first game, he also faced a serious situation while making a slide and ended up injuring his elbow. Result? He had to take a medical time-out (MTO) and a painkiller. Seems like it was just a temporary escape from the pain.
Ahead of his quarterfinal face-off against Ben Shelton, on Wednesday, he was set to have a practice session on grass. But guess what? He skipped it while waiting for the MRI scans to know if everything was fine. On Tuesday, Sinner’s main coach Darren Cahill came up with a gloomy update on the World No.1’s condition. It’s reported that Sinner practiced on indoor hard courts instead of grass. According to Cahill, there’s “No news on the MRI just yet,” reported ATP’s website on July 8. He continued, “He had it earlier today and he can’t take a day off, so he wanted to touch the ball… So Simone and myself just fed him a few balls out of the basket.” So is everything alright as of now? Doesn’t seem to be the case by how Cahill has put it.
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Justifying Sinner’s surprising choice to play on hard courts, he explained, “It’s not a bad thing sometimes (to practise on hard court). The more you play on grass with the uneven bounces, the more your timing goes off,”
Whatever said and done, there’s still no confirmation on whether Sinner will play Wednesday’s quarterfinal against Shelton. The early signs were noticed during his post-match press conference after the fourth round. So what did the Italian say on his injury?
Jannik Sinner on the “unfortunate fall” in Wimbledon fourth round
While Jannik Sinner made it to the QF stage after Dimitrov’s walkover, he had a lot to say about his own fitness going forward. Expressing honest feelings over his elbow injury, the World No.1 said, “I mean, it happened very early in the match, you know, the first game, and it was a quite unfortunate fall. I checked the videos a little bit, and it didn’t seem like a tough one, but you know, I still felt it quite a lot, especially the servant forehand, so I could feel it.”
Hoping to get some positive update, he added, “So, um, let’s see. Tomorrow, we are going to check to see how it is, and then we will see,” Obviously, he wasn’t sounding super confident in his tone.
Given that there’s no physio in his team as of now, things are looking doubtful. However, he tried to assure saying, “Here they have good ATP physios. In any case, the doctor is good and as I said, tomorrow we’re going to check with you know MRI and to see if there’s something serious. And then we try to adjust it.”
Sinner made his best run at the Wimbledon during the 2023 edition. Back then, he reached the semis before losing to 24-time slam king Novak Djokovic. Last season, though, he failed to move beyond the quarterfinal. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev bested him with a score line of 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3.
Speaking of Sinner and Shelton’s H2H equation, the Italian is leading the tally 5-1. In fact, Sinner even won at the grass major against the 22-year-old American. Last year, he beat him in the fourth round. In case he gets fit before the match, they will meet again at the All England Club, but for a semifinal spot. Do you think the three-time slam champion will be able to defy his injury and compete? Let us know in the comments below. And don’t forget to stay on top of every twist and turn in the Championships with our Live Blog.
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