Oooh, look – Jannik Sinner is wearing a sturdy-looking sleeve on his service arm! And there’s hefty taping visible underneath it! That must mean he’s feeling the effects of the elbow injury he sustained in his fourth round against Grigor Dimitrov!
The great babble of expectation around No.1 Court wasn’t difficult to interpret, the moment the Italian removed his tracksuit top ahead of his quarter-final against Ben Shelton.
Sinner might have got out of jail against Dimitrov, when the Bulgarian had to withdraw injured in sight of a shock victory. But surely, the crowd audibly reasoned, this sleeve support indicated a threat to Sinner’s continuing progress at Wimbledon 2025, especially up against huge-serving left-hander.
The first set statistics shot the theory down in flames… 27 out of 29 service points won, with 15 winners delivered against one whole unforced error – and that was in a tie-break set, a scenario where Shelton had previously thrived this Fortnight.
But at 3-2 in the second Sinner skied a return, and it was instantly apparent that it hurt – he winced and clutched the elbow before shaking out his arm, and then took a few moments to compose himself at the back of the court. Once again, the ripple of speculation was audible.
Yet whatever the No.1 seed was feeling, his tennis was impervious. Sure, his error count rose from the near-perfection of the first set. And who knows? Perhaps his elbow was agony throughout it all.
Nonetheless, at the handshake the scoreline read 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4, and Sinner is in to his second career semi-final at Wimbledon.
Two days earlier he said of his fourth round against Dimitrov: “I don’t see this as a win.” No need for such doubts on Wednesday.
“The feelings are very different this time,” said Sinner. “I’m very, very happy. Wimbledon is the most special tournament in the calendar so being again in the last four here means a lot to me.”
He didn’t quite answer, though, when asked if he is playing in pain.
“When you’re in a match with a lot of tension, you try not to think about it,” he said carefully. “It has improved a lot of from yesterday, when I had 20 minutes on the practice courts with my coaches. But I’m looking forward to it now, no excuse, and there is no better stage to play tennis.”
In the first set, the good news for Shelton was that his service was whistling through at upwards of 130mph on average, with several in the 140s, and he faced no break points. But he could leave barely a dimple, never mind a dent, on Sinner’s own delivery.
Although not ideal, it wasn’t necessarily an outright problem. Before this match, the longer a set continued, the likelier the American was to win it – he took four tie-breaks without reply in his first four rounds, along with two 7-5 sets for good measure.
By contrast, the last time Sinner played a tie-break was at Roland-Garros, in the deciding set of his devastating defeat by Carlos Alcaraz. Private grief and all that.
Unfortunately for Shelton, it appears Sinner is over that in a big way. The Italian took the tie-break at a canter.
Only the moment at 2-3 in the second set indicated underlying difficulty. Interestingly, it followed on from Shelton earning a pair of break points, although neither bore fruit. Was this the turning point?
It has improved a lot of from yesterday, when I had 20 minutes on the practice courts with my coaches.
Up in Sinner’s player box, coach Darren Cahill was on his feet in concern. Yet the moment passed.
At 5-4 to Sinner on serve, the physio came on court – for Shelton, who had his left ankle retaped. Then the Italian switched gears at exactly the right moment. The first set, already in his pocket, now had a companion.
Shelton’s progress this grass court season has included a Stuttgart semi-final as well as this debut quarter-final here, bouncing him in to the top 10 for the first time. He has learned much.
But having salvaged two match points, he gifted a third with his sixth double fault. Seconds later Sinner skipped to the net to acknowledge his vanquished foe. Then he punched the air with that right arm. The elbow was feeling pretty good in that moment, it seems.