ATP Tour

Sinner: I was always going to play, just unsure at what level…

It was almost ‘business as usual’ for Jannik Sinner on Wednesday at Wimbledon, where the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings fended off Ben Shelton for a straight-sets quarter-final win.

Yet Sinner’s preparations for the Shelton clash were anything but normal. He battled to recover from an elbow injury sustained when he fell in the opening game of his fourth-round meeting with Grigor Dimitrov and on Tuesday his only practice was a short, light session indoors. However, the caution shown by the Italian and his team appeared to pay off in his 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 triumph against Shelton.

“Yesterday I played 20 minutes without serving and not hitting 100 per cent,” said Sinner in his post-match press conference. “But on the other hand, I always try to put myself in the position at least to go out there and try.

“I had quite good feelings in the warm-up today. So I felt also yesterday that mentally I have to get ready. I put into my mind that I'm going to play today, so the concerns were not that big if I would play or not. It was just a matter of what my percentage was. Today was very high, so I'm happy.”

Forza Jannik 🔥@janniksin is into the #Wimbledon semi-finals with a 7-6 6-4 6-4 win over Shelton.@Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/9qibVDDcMy

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 9, 2025

Sinner’s reward for downing Shelton is a semi-final meeting with seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who sunk Flavio Cobolli in four sets. Friday’s encounter between Sinner and Djokovic will be a rematch of the 2023 semi-final. That was the Italian’s first last-four appearance at a major, and he was asked to reflect on his journey since Djokovic's 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) triumph two years ago.

“[Since] a couple of years ago, many things have changed for me,” reflected Sinner. “I feel that before matches I'm more comfortable or confident. But at the same time, I know that I have to keep working and keep putting pressure on myself because new players are coming. The new generation is growing. Novak is here and obviously Carlos [Alcaraz] and a lot of other players.

“The work never stops. I think that's exciting. But I believe that I'm different player, different person. Hopefully I can say that I'm more mature, too.”