For Grigor Dimitrov, it never rains, it pours when it comes to injuries and lightning has struck once again for the Bulgarian at Wimbledon.
Dimitrov was rolling back the years against Jannik Sinner and had the world number one fighting to stay in the competition at two sets to love down.
The player who has had awful luck with injuries over the years will have a serious fight on his hands to come back from this one.
Dimitrov was disconsolate as he used a towel to wipe away the tears from his eyes as Sinner helped him off the court at Wimbledon and it remains to be seen what the prognosis is.
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Jannik Sinner offers instant reaction to Grigor Dimitrov injury
Sinner has got away with one here and boy, does he know it.
During his interview on the court, he made the decision to heap praise on Dimitrov and praise him for the performance which he displayed out on the court.
He told BBC One: “I don’t know what to say. He is an incredible player, I think we all saw this today. He has been so unlucky in the past couple of years. An incredible player, a good friend of mine also. We understand each other very well off the court and seeing him in this position. If there were a chance he could play the next round, he would deserve it, but mostly I hope he has a speedy recovery.
“Very unlucky from his side, I don’t take this as a win at all. This is just a very unfortunate moment to witness for all of us. And I think already in the last Grand Slams, he has struggled a lot with injuries and seeing him have this kind of injury again is very, very tough.
We all saw with his reaction how much he cares about the sport.
“He is one of the hardest-working players on Tour. Thank you for coming, but this is not the ending we want to see. This is very sad. We all wish him the best, let’s give him an applause for him and his team.
Sinner will take on Ben Shelton in a quarter-final match as he bids to win the grass-court Grand Slam for the first time.
Tracy Austin delivers reaction to Dimitrov withdrawal
Naturally, everyone is gutted for Dimitrov and this will be devastating for him.
Austin was doing the live coverage for BBC and afterwards she shared what she thought about the Bulgarian withdrawing from the match through injury.
She said: “He was really serving well. In the past, he has had some service yips and hasn’t had that smooth service motion. But he has been serving well. It looks like he was moving well, which he always does.
“But it’s that ability to hit so well on the move. He has the ability at the net and the ability to anticipate. He’s comfortable at the net; there aren’t many players any more who are comfortable playing in the forecourt. And there aren’t many players who have that wonderful backhand slice.
“His backhand slice is a weapon. He can hit over the one-hander, he moves extremely well to open up the court and spread the court and it seemed like it was all coming together.”
Dimitrov has now withdrawn from the last four majors through injury and that is a real cause for concern at 34-years-old.
The player is a former semi-finalist at the All England Club, having reached the last four in 2014 and this would have been viewed as a great chance for him to reach another.
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