Andy Roddick has come up with a theory to explain Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon exit.
The latest edition of the grass court Grand Slam marked the first major the Italian has played as the World number one.
He battled his way to the quarter-finals and aimed to equal his best result at the tournament by reaching the last four.
But he was stopped in his tracks by Daniil Medvedev, who defeated the 22-year-old in five sets to move just one step away from reaching the first Wimbledon final of his career.
What did Andy Roddick think about Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon defeat?
Sinner suffered just his fourth loss of the season on Tuesday when he was beaten by Medvedev on Centre Court. But the top seed appeared to be struggling physically and he went off court for a medical timeout midway through the contest.
Many were concerned by how Sinner looked at points during the match, and Roddick took to his ‘Served’ Podcast to suggest that the way he was feeling may be due to his girlfriend and 17th seed Anna Kalinskaya. The Russian retired from her fourth round battle with Elena Rybakina on Monday.
“Something that’s a little weird, I don’t talk about who’s dating who often on this show unless it actually matters for the matches and this is one of the rare cases that I feel like it does,” the American said.
“Kalinskaya pulled out of her match a couple of days ago with a stomach issue. Her boyfriend is Jannik Sinner, and just looked as Producer Mike said before we came on, peckish all day.
“You can see that he was sweating more than normal, and went off the court early in the third set to receive a medical check-up which is not normal.”
What did Jannik Sinner say about his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat?
Sinner was visibly disappointed after a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 loss ended his hopes of becoming the Wimbledon champion for the first time.
The player expressed that he felt dizzy during his medical timeout, but returned to finish the match and fought valiantly until the end.
Post-match he commented on how he was feeling, claiming he was struggling physically as early as the morning of the contest.
“Already this morning I didn’t feel great. I had some problems,” Sinner said in his post-match press conference. “Then with the fatigue, it was tough. But take nothing away from Daniil. I think he played very smart. He played good tennis. That’s it. I went off the court. I didn’t want to go off.
“The physio told me it was better to take some time because he watched me and I didn’t seem in shape to play. I was struggling physically. It was not an easy moment. I tried to fight with what I had today.
“I was not feeling great. I didn’t vomit. But I took some time because I was dizzy quite a lot. Off court, I had the toughest time. When I went back, I tried my best.”
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