After undergoing an MRI earlier in the week, World No. 1 Jannik Sinner had no problems cruising past Ben Shelton to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
Following Grigor Dimitrov‘s retirement from his fourth-round match against Sinner on Monday, the Italian star revealed that he would be undergoing an MRI to assess the damage done to his elbow by a fall early in the match.
Despite that, Sinner had no problem cruising past American Ben Shelton on Court 1, winning the match in straight sets (7-6, 6-4, 6-4).
Following the win, he spoke with those in attendance for his on-court interview, indicating that his elbow is doing much better than it was following Monday’s match:
“When you are 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 only, but you know the way, I’m looking forward to it (the next round). No excuse. There’s no better stage to play tennis, and I think I showed this today. The atmosphere helps me so much.”
You can see his comments in the video below beginning at the 2:25 mark.
With his win on Wednesday, Sinner now secures himself a place in the Wimbledon semifinals for just the second time in his career.
Sinner Set to Face Djokovic Following Shelton Win
When semifinal action picks up on Friday, Jannik Sinner will collide with seven-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic on Centre Court.
Djokovic, who entered this tournament as the No. 6 seed, picked up a hard-fought win over Flavio Cobolli (6-7, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4) in their quarterfinal meeting on Wednesday.
While Cobolli took the first set against the former World No. 1, Djokovic bounced back in dominant fashion, winning the second set in just 26 minutes.
While Cobolli fought hard to swing momentum his way in the third and fourth sets, playing some spectacular points when he needed it most, the all-time great emerged victorious on Centre Court.
While speaking in his on-court interview, Djokovic spoke about reaching the semifinals at SW19 for a record-breaking 14th time:
“Wimbledon was, is, still remains, and always will be the most special tournament that we have in our sport, at least in my opinion. … And of course it means the world to me that I’m still able at 38 to play the final stages of Wimbledon.”
You can see his comments below beginning at the 2:43 mark.
Previewing Wimbledon’s ATP Semifinal Matchups
With their wins on Wednesday, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic will meet for the 10th time in their respective careers.
Currently, Sinner leads the head-to-head 5-4, and has won four of their five most recent meetings, including a clash in the semifinals of Rolland Garros at the beginning of June.
Despite that, Sinner has never beaten Djokovic on grass, with the seven-time Wimbledon winner winning their only two Wimbledon matches in 2022 and 2023.
On the opposite side of the draw, two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked American Taylor Fritz will face off in a highly-anticipated semifinal matchup that will see Alcaraz look to extend his head-to-head lead over Fritz to 3-0.
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