Jannik Sinner suffers injury scare as he slumps to shock Montreal loss
Jannik Sinner appeared to again be struggling with his right hip as he fell to a surprise loss to Andrey Rublev at the Canadian Open in Montreal.
The world No 1 and defending champion was heavily backed to defend his title this week, with key threats Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz not playing.
However, after another rain-affected and elongated day in Montreal, the 22-year-old was beaten 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 by world No 8 Rublev.
But it was not the defeat that struck most concern, with the Australian Open champion again struggling with his right hip throughout the contest.
Sinner was seen massaging his hip at points and hunched over after several long rallies, with coach Darren Cahill appearing to tell him to call the physio onto the court after the second set.
The world No 1 has struggled with his hip throughout 2024, most notably during the clay court season.
Sinner first appeared to aggravate an issue in Monte Carlo, and then withdrew from his Madrid Open quarter-final before pulling out of the Italian Open.
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Despite that he was still able to reach the last four of Roland Garros – though he has struggled with illness since then.
All eyes will now be on whether he heads to Cincinnati, where he is set to be the top seed in the men’s singles draw.
For Rublev, this is a significant win regardless of the circumstances, with the Russian having had a bumpy season to this point.
He will next face another Italian, Matteo Arnaldi, for a place in what would be a second Masters 1000 final of the season.
Rublev said: “It was a really great match of mine. I was playing really well today and I’m happy that I was able to win.
“I don’t know, not much to say, because I still for the moment… really I don’t understand what’s happening, because Jannik is an amazing player and he’s playing unbelievable for the past two years.
“I was just hoping that I would be able to fight with him, to show great tennis. In the end, I think we had a lot of great rallies, a lot of long rallies.
“To be able to win this kind of match, of course it’s always special, and of course I needed those matches, especially after some bad moments this year. So of course I’m happy.”
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