Man, that was rough to watch. Grigor Dimitrov, totally gutted, left Wimbledon in tears after having to quit while he was up two sets against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Like, he was actually leading 6-3, 7-5, 2-2 when he just crumpled to the grass, clutching his right pec right after firing down an ace. You could tell straight away something was seriously off. Sinner wasted zero time, running over to check on him kind of classy, honestly.
The medics came out, tried to patch him up, but nope. Dimitrov left the court for a bit, came back with tears in his eyes, and shook Sinner’s hand. Whole Centre Court stood up for him, but the dude could barely lift his arm to wave. Sinner even walked off with him. Respect.
And get this he’s just been getting hammered by injuries lately. The guy can’t catch a break. This year alone, he’s already retired from the Aussie and French Opens, and now this. That’s five Slams in a row he's had to quit. No one on the ATP Tour has pulled out of more matches due to injury since 2020. Twelve times! That’s wild.
It’s almost cruel, right? For a guy who used to get called ‘baby Fed’ because his game looked so much like Federer’s. And Federer was actually sitting there in the Royal Box, watching it all go down, looking super concerned. If that doesn’t mess with your head, I don’t know what does.
Sinner, meanwhile, gets a pass into the quarters. He was dealing with his own drama took a medical timeout for his elbow during the match. He even said after, “Not the way we wanted it to end.” No kidding, man. He’s getting an MRI, but honestly, all eyes were on Dimitrov. Just brutal.
Poor guy didn’t even do a press conference. He was too busy getting checked out. Wimbledon can be savage like that.
Yeah, so, Sinner waltzed into this match looking like the guy to beat everyone basically expected him to steamroll his way through, especially after barely breaking a sweat all week. I mean, he spent less time on court getting to round four than it takes most people to binge a Netflix miniseries. But, surprise surprise, Dimitrov wasn’t just there to make up the numbers.
Dimitrov, man full of energy, sharp as ever, just refusing to give Sinner an inch. Crowd came in ready for another Sinner highlight reel, then boom Dimitrov breaks right out of the gate. Totally flipped the script. And he just kept the heat on, serving like a machine and brushing off the one break point he faced. First set? Locked in.
Sinner, on the other hand, looked kinda rattled. Then Dimitrov grabs another break to start set two, and you could feel the tension. Sinner’s elbow started acting up he actually had to get a medical timeout midway through. Not exactly ideal. Even so, the dude managed to claw his way back and break Dimitrov as the Bulgarian tried to serve out the set at 5-4. For a second there, it looked like Sinner might rally.
Nope. Dimitrov just snatched the momentum right back, broke him again, then managed to hold serve in a real grinder to basically put Sinner in a hole he rarely climbs out of.
Then, just as things were heating up, they had to shut the roof because the light was fading. Ten-minute pause with Dimitrov totally in control, playing like it’s 2017 or something. He actually fired down 14 aces dude was on fire. Although, maybe pushed himself a bit too hard, 'cause after one particularly big serve in the third set, he sat down grimacing and holding his chest. Kinda wild.