Jannik Sinner involved in 'bizarre' moment with Grigor Dimitrov seconds before devastating Wimbledon retirement
Sinner listened into a conversation between Dimitrov and his trainer before his rival was forced into a devastating retirement
Grigor Dimitrov was left in tears as he had to retire despite being two sets up against Jannik Sinner – but the Italian made sure to show his support for his devastated rival.
World No.1 Sinner was in serious trouble against the veteran Bulgarian who had taken the opening two sets before a break in play during their Wimbledon last 16 clash to put the roof over centre court.
The third set had barely started though when Dimitrov suddenly hunched over clutching his pectoral muscle.
He was in tears as his medical staff assessed him and, as concerns rose, Sinner left his chair to see how his rival was doing.
That was a slightly unusual sight and Tim Henman said on commentary: "It's slightly bizarre for Sinner to be listening in to the conversation."
It was a touch of class from the big Italian and showed how much he cared about his rival, who attempted to play on but retired after just one point.
That ended his chances of a massive upset for which he was firm favourite with the first two sets on the board.
A shaken Sinner spoke to the BBC after the match and said it didn't feel like a win.
He said: "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."
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