Grigor Dimitrov Retires Due to Injury Up 2 Sets vs. No. 1 Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon

Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire during his Round of 16 matchup against top-seeded Jannik Sinner on Monday, despite holding a two-set advantage in the match.

Dimitrov, the No. 19 seed, was looking to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time since 2014, when he was eliminated in the semifinals.

After the match, Sinner said he doesn't "take this as a win at all."

It is the second straight year that Dimitrov was forced to retire at Wimbledon. Last year he withdrew in the fourth round against Daniil Medvedev due to an abductor tear in his left leg.

Injury struck again at last year's U.S. Open, as a leg issue forced him to retire in the quarterfinals against Frances Tiafoe. The 2025 season hasn't been any luckier, with first-round retirements at both the Australian Open and French Open.

"Some days it's inevitable [that you think about the injury issues] just because you wake up and you feel something," Dimitrov told reporters ahead of his matchup with Sinner. "But this is also a place where I'm entering in my career that I have to accept the fact that there's going to be something every single day. So I live with it, and I'm OK with it. As long as I've gone to work, match, tennis tournament, or whatever it is, and I've given 100 percent of myself, then I've done my duty."

Dimitrov said he felt "great" and "pain-free" coming into the match, making Monday's injury all the harder to take.

"He's an incredible player, we all saw this today," Sinner said after the match. "He's been so unlucky in the past couple of years. An incredible player, good friend of mine. We understand each other very well off the court. Seeing him in this position, honestly, if there would be a chance he could play in the next round he would deserve it. But now, mostly, I hope he has a speedy recovery."