While there have been endless upsets at the 2025 Wimbledon so far, fans would have witnessed the biggest one yet had Grigor Dimitrov not retired. He was absolutely dominating World No.1 Jannik Sinner at the Centre Court on Monday, after clearing two straight sets and heading to a stunning win in the third. However, he withdrew, allowing Sinner to get a life and enter the quarterfinal round at the grass major. But guess what? It’s not going to be an easy way out for him there either. A young American threat is waiting for the three-time slam champion, who is himself going through pain right now.

Following the unfortunate scenes in the fourth round and getting an entry into the last eight, Sinner was far from elated. “I don’t take this as a win at all,” he said in an on-court interview after Dimitrov’s walkover. The latter was cruising 6-3, 7-5 before retiring in the third set at 2-2 while holding his pectoral muscle beneath his right arm. During the post-match press conference, when Sinner was asked about the challenges of facing Ben Shelton in the next round, Sinner kept it honest. “Yeah, I mean, return of the serve of course, it’s the first thing.” The Italian mentioned how Shelton has “improved a lot in the back of the court. He had a great match against Carlos (Alcaraz) in Paris, too. And he knows how to play on every surface.”

The Italian cited how he “faced him last year here and it was very-very difficult match. So let’s see what’s coming but it’s gonna be a problem in two days.” Sinner would like to take care of his own fitness, too. During the battle against Dimitrov he had to take a medical time-out because of injuring his elbow while making a slide in the very first game and had to take a painkiller later to deal with the discomfort.

The two already had a matchup last year at the grass major. During the fourth round, the World No.1 met the American who gave him a hard time despite losing the match. Shelton lost the first two sets 2-6, 4-6, but put up a great fight in the third, sending it into a tiebreak. Sinner was forced to push himself to earn a quarterfinal ticket with a 7-6 win to wrap up the battle in three straight sets.

But for now, the Italian’s main focus will be to take care of his own condition. He won’t be too willing to take another MTO in the QF stage after sustaining a big blow against Dimitrov on Monday.

During the press conference, the World No.1 showed concerns over his elbow before the quarterfinal battle. Throwing light on the situation, he said, “I mean, it happened very early in the match, you know, the first game, and it was a quite unfortunate fall. I checked the videos a little bit, and it didn’t seem like a tough one, but you know, I still felt it quite a lot, especially the servant forehand, so I could feel it.”

“So, um, let’s see. Tomorrow, we are going to check to see how it is, and then we will see,” he ended while not being super confident. So how does he plan to recover in time now that he doesn’t have a trainer and physio in his team anymore? “Here they have good ATP physios. In any case, the doctor is good and as I said, tomorrow we’re going to check with you know MRI and to see if there’s something serious. And then we try to adjust it.”

Sinner’s best run on grass at Wimbledon has been reaching the semis. During the 2023 edition, he bested Russia’s Roman Safiullin in the quarterfinal stage to enter the last four. However, 24-time slam king Novak Djokovic ended his campaign soon with a score line of 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. Last season, the Italian couldn’t go past the round of the last eight after losing to Daniil Medvedev.

Do you think he will manage to defeat Shelton easily and mirror his performance from two years ago? Let us know in the comments below. Also, stay updated with every play and point from the Championships via EssentiallySports’ Live Blog.