Jannik Sinner admits he was ‘struggling physically’ in Wimbledon defeat
Jannik Sinner has suffered a Wimbledon quarter-final exit at the hands of Daniil Medvedev, with the Italian detailing his health struggles after the match.
Sinner was beaten in five sets by Medvedev, 6(7)-7 6-4 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3, with the Russian winning his first match in the head-to-head since April 2023 after five consecutive losses.
However, it was clear that Sinner was not feeling himself throughout the contest, taking a medical timeout in the third set and leaving the court.
The World No.1 detailed his physical situation when speaking to press, but did not want to take anything away from his opponent.
“This morning I didn’t feel great. I had some problems,” revealed Sinner. “Then with the fatigue, it was tough. But nothing to take away from Daniil. I think he played very smart. He played good tennis. That’s it.
“I went off the court actually. I didn’t want to go off. The physio told me 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 that what I had today.”
He continued, “I was not feeling great. I didn’t vomit. But took some time because I was dizzy quite a lot. Yeah, actually off court I had a little bit the toughest time maybe. I retired a lot two years ago. I don’t want to retire if it’s only a little bit of illness or sick or whatever.
“I was still in shape to play somehow. The fifth set I felt a little bit better again. The energy level was a bit up. Today the energy level was not consistent. It was up and down. Like this, it’s also not easy to handle the situations on the court. It happens. I was never thinking about retiring. You don’t want to retire in a quarter-final of a Grand Slam.”
Sinner was then asked if there was any illness going around the locker room, but the Australian Open champion seemed to put it down to bad luck.
“Everyone seems okay. Obviously now you don’t have that much contact with the players. It’s quite empty now, the locker room,” explained the 22-year-old,
“But everyone seems okay. It was just me that I felt during this night a little bit like this. I couldn’t sleep the hours I wanted to. But these things can happen, so just unfortunate.”
Despite his Wimbledon exit, Sinner appears to be taking the positives from the grass court season after winning the title in Halle and reaching the last-eight at SW19 once again.
“It still gives me confidence for the next tournaments coming up,” said Sinner. “It’s a tough one to swallow. But the season is going very positive, a lot of wins, not so many losses. The losses, they are very tight matches. The level is there. That’s the most important. Just watching out for the positives.”
Sinner is scheduled to return to action next week on the clay in Bastad, as attention turns to the Paris Olympic Games.
Inside the baseline…
It is a shame that Jannik Sinner was suffering with illness, but he still fought really hard to take it to five sets. That being said, as Sinner mentioned you cannot take anything away from Daniil Medvedev, who potentially played his best ever grass court match yesterday. Hopefully Sinner can rest and recover ahead of the tournament in Bastad next week, as that is the only clay court event he has entered ahead of the Paris Games.
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