Andy Murray hammers 'ridiculous' Wimbledon rule before Grigor Dimitrov forced into heartbreaking retirement

Murray let rip after the roof was closed at around 8.30pm

Fuming Andy Murray tore into the 'ridiculous' decision to close the roof on Jannik Sinner's Wimbledon match with Grigor Dimitrov so early – before the Bulgarian had to retire due to a serious-looking injury.

World No.1 Sinner was 2-0 down in sets to the veteran Bulgarian and on the verge of one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when the decision was taken to close the roof on centre-court.

That forced a stoppage of around 30 minutes with the favourite for the tournament having to sit in his chair and think of an answer to the Bulgarian who was playing some of the best tennis of his life.

Fans were left bemused as, at around 8.30pm, there was seemingly enough sunlight left for at least one more set before closing the roof.

That could have seen former semi-finalist Dimitrov see it out in straight sets and the momentum was certainly with him.

But he wasn't given that chance and former two-time champion Murray quickly let rip.

He tweeted: "So ridiculous to close the roof at this stage of the match. At least an hour of light left. Well over a set of tennis can still be played. It's an outdoor tournament!"

The game resumed after around 30 minutes but it rapidly took a turn for the worse for Dimitrov.

In the first game after play resumed, he hunched over clutching his pectoral muscle and that forced yet another stoppage, this time for medical reasons.

After Sinner went over to check on his rival, play briefly resumed before a distraught Dimitrov was unable to play on.

That meant Sinner advanced to the last eight despite trailing 2-0 in sets when the match was stopped.

And he said afterwards it didn't feel like a win.

The world No.1 graciously told the BBC: "I don't know what to say. He is an incredible player, we all saw this today. He's been so unlucky in the past couple of years. An incredible player, a good friend of mine. Seeing him in this position, he would deserve to play in the next round.

"I hope he has a speedy recovery. Very unlucky from his side, I don't take this as a win at all, this is a very unfortunate moment for us to witness. Seeing him again with this kind of injury is very very tough.

"We saw with his reaction how much he cares about the sport. Thank you for coming, but this is not the end we wanted to see. We wish him all the best."