'There is no excuse' - Jannik Sinner downplays injury concerns following quarterfinal win over Ben Shelton at Wimbledon

It was business as usual for Jannik Sinner at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships as he defeated Ben Shelton to advance to the semifinals. However, there was some doubt about the Italian's fitness prior to their quarterfinal clash.

The World No.1 had been in incredible form during his first three matches at SW19. However, Sinner dropped the first two sets to Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16, before the Bulgarian was forced to retire mid-match with an injury. Following his win over Dimitrov, Sinner cancelled a training session, leading to speculation that he was nursing an injury sustained during the match.

Sinner breezes past Shelton in quarterfinals

The reigning Australian Open champion was scheduled to have an MRI on his elbow on Tuesday after it was rumored he had picked up an injury during his match against Dimitrov. Nonetheless, Sinner returned to action against Shelton on Wednesday, cruising past the American in a 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4 victory.

Sinner donned a long sleeve with visible wrapping underneath on his right arm, and confirmed he had been playing through an injury in his quarterfinal match against Shelton.

"Yeah I mean, you know, when you are in match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it," said Sinner in his post-match interview. "It has improved a lot from yesterday to today. Yesterday, my day was very short on the practice court, 20 mins with the coaches. But in the other way, I’m looking forward to it.
"This is no excuse so there is no better stage to play tennis and I think I showed this today. Again, the atmosphere helps me so much, so thank you again for the support."

The top seed will take on seven-time Wimbledon Champion Novak Djokovic for a spot in his first Wimbledon final. This will be the duo's second consecutive semifinal meeting in a Grand Slam event, with Sinner prevailing when they met at Roland Garros last month.