Jannik Sinner rumours swirling as big injury update arrives ahead of Wimbledon decision
Jannik Sinner’s team have offered up deafening silence after the world No 1 underwent a scan on his injured elbow, with a decision on whether he will continue his Wimbledon campaign expected early on Wednesday morning.
Sinner’s decision to cancel his practice session at 4pm on Tuesday fuelled rumours that he may be about to pull out of Wimbledon, after he damaged his elbow in a tense fourth round clash against Grigor Dimitrov on Monday night.is opponent, there are also doubts over whether the albow problem was affecting him.
The Italian was close to crashing out of the tournament as Dimitrov moved into a commanding two-set lead and he was holding firm at 2-2 in the third set before he injured his pectoral muscle and was forced to retire amid emotional scenes.
Initially, sympathy was all with Dimitrov after his injury forced him to retire from a fifth successive Grand Slam tournament, but now that concern has moved to Sinner.
The Australian Open and US Open champion fell awkwardly in the opening set of the match against Dimitrov and quickly indicated that he had done some damage to his elbow.
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It appeared Sinner’s damage was minimal as he quickly suggested he was not injured when Dimitrov checked on his health.
Yet Sinner appeared to be struggling to control his shots for much of the match against Dimitrov and while that was certainly due, in part, to the thrilling performance of his opponent, there were also doubts over the condition of the player who is favoured to reach Sunday’s final.
“It happened very early in the match, first game. It was quite an unfortunate fall,” said Sinner of his injury.
“Checked the videos a little bit, and it didn’t seem tough one, but I still felt it quite a lot, especially 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.
“We actually thought he’d hurt his wrist at the start,” Cahill said. “But he did bang the elbow on the ground and he felt his elbow throughout the entire match. And it was pretty sore afterwards.
“He lost about six or seven miles per hour on average speed off the forehand, and off the serve as well, but I don’t want to take anything away from Grigor because he played an amazing match for a couple of sets and even had a couple of chances in the third. What happened to him was a travesty.”
Sinner headed into Wimbledon without his own physio after the exit of trainer Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio from his team, but he is confident the ATP Tour staff working at the All England Club will help him to get fit for the rest of the tournament.
“Yeah, here they have good ATP physios, in any case. The doctor’s good,” he said. “As I said, tomorrow we are going to check with MRI to see if there’s something serious, and then we try to adjust it.”
There was some positive news from the Sinner camp late on Tuesday night as his coach confirmed he had taken to the indoor practice court at Wimbledon for a brief session as he awaits the results of the MRI scan.
“No news on the MRI just yet,” said Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill on ESPN. “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.
“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. (Andre) Agassi used to do it all the time… We’ve done that for a couple of years, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary.”
Sinner’s blockbuster quarter-final against Ben Shelton on Wednesday would appear to be an ideal match to be played on Centre Court, but Wimbledon chiefs have scheduled it to take place on No.1 Court.
Novak Djokovic will play his quarter-final against Flavio Cabolli on the main showcourt at Wimbledon and that decision might have been made by All England Club officials who fear Sinner could pull-out and may leave a hole in their Centre Court schedule.
Sinner will not play until around 4pm on Wednesday, so he has most of the day to decide whether he is fit to play and he is likely to have a test on a practice court before he takes on Shelton.
The booming serves that will come in from the Americans will test Sinner’s elbow, yet the results of the MRI scan may now be crucial in deciding whether the Italian takes to the court as any serious damage may force him to pull out for fear of making the problem more serious.
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