World number one Jannik Sinner cancels practice ahead of Wimbledon quarter-final clash amid elbow injury concerns

LONDON: World number one Jannik Sinner cancelled his practice session amid elbow injury fears ahead of his quarter-final clash against America’s Ben Shelton on Wednesday at the ongoing Wimbledon.

According to Sky Sports, Sinner cancelled his practice session on Tuesday after sustaining a right elbow injury he suffered on Monday evening after slipping on the baseline in the first game of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov.

Sinner earned a spot in the quarter-finals despite trailing 6-3, 7-5, 2-2 against Bulgaria’s 19th seed. Dimitrov sustained an apparent pectoral injury, which led to him retiring from the game and allowed the Italian to proceed into the final eight.

The 23-year-old, who himself needed a medical timeout during the second set, revealed that he would need an MRI scan on his right elbow on Tuesday. He underwent the scan on Tuesday morning and subsequently cancelled his scheduled practice session at 4 pm on Wimbledon’s Aorangi Park.

“It was quite an unfortunate fall. I checked the videos a little bit, and it didn’t seem a tough one, but I still felt it quite a lot, especially on serve and forehand. I could feel it. So let’s see. Tomorrow we are going to check to see how it is, and then we see,” Sinner said on Monday night after his match, as quoted from Sky Sports.

Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion, achieved his best run at Wimbledon, reaching the semi-finals in 2023. He lost in straight sets to Serbian maestro Novak Djokovic.

After getting a walkover in the fourth round clash, Sinner wished the best for Dimitrov and said, as quoted from ATP, “I hope he has a speedy recovery. It’s very unlucky from his side. I don’t take this as a win at all. This is just a very unfortunate moment to witness for all of us.”

“I think already in the last Grand Slams he has struggled a lot with injuries and seeing him now again having this kind of injury is very, very tough. We all saw this with his reaction, how much he cares about the sport. He’s one of the most hardworking players on tour and it’s very unfortunate,” he added. (ANI)