Jannik Sinner emulates Rafael Nadal as he addresses Wimbledon injury concerns after Ben Shelton win

Ewan West 09 Jul 2025 7:14 PM

Jannik Sinner in action at Wimbledon

Jannik Sinner brushed off injury concerns with a convincing quarter-final victory over Ben Shelton at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships.

The world No 1 defeated 10th seed Shelton 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 19 minutes on No. 1 Court.

There were questions over Sinner‘s physical state heading into the match given the elbow issue that surfaced in his last 16 clash with Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon.

After hitting his arm when he fell in the opening game against Dimitrov, Sinner struggled against an inspired opponent and fell behind by two sets to love.

The three-time major winner survived in remarkable circumstances, though, when a pectoral injury cruelly forced Dimitrov to retire at 2-2 in the third set.

Sinner wore a sleeve on his right arm against Shelton, but he looked back to his ruthless best as he held off the big-serving 22-year-old American.

A tight opening set went to a tiebreak after neither player created a break point, and Sinner won seven straight points to take it after trailing 0-2.

The 23-year-old Italian then secured the only breaks of the second and third sets with Shelton serving to stay alive at 4-5 in both instances.

Sinner is the youngest man to reach the semi-finals at four successive Grand Slam events since Rafael Nadal — who made five in a row between the 2008 Australian Open and the 2009 Australian Open.

In his on-court interview, Sinner said: “The feelings are very different [from the match against Dimitrov], I’m very very happy with my performance, playing against him [Ben Shelton] is so difficult.

“You have chances and he serves very well as we saw in the last game but overall we play each other more and more we get to know each other a little bit better and I’m looking forward to these kind of battles.

“It’s even more special to play in front of you guys, it’s an honour and an amazing feeling.

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“I remember the first time playing on Centre Court and the first time playing the semi-finals here and it’s very very special.

“I’m very much looking forward to it but when you’re young, one year it makes such a difference because you get more into the big stages and you get used to it and it feels so amazing.

“Wimbledon is the most special tournament throughout the calendar so being again here in the last four means a lot to me and hopefully it’s going to be a good match the next one, let’s see who I’m going to play against but I’m looking forward to it.”

On his elbow, Sinner added: “When you’re in a match with a lot of tension you try to not think about it, it has improved a lot from yesterday to today. Yesterday, my day was very short on the practice court, 20 minutes with the coaches.

“I’m looking forward to it now, there’s no excuse, there is no better stage to play tennis and I showed this today, the atmosphere helps me so much so thanks so much for the support.”

Sinner will face either Novak Djokovic or Flavio Cobolli in the last four.