"Cried straight up for a couple of hours": Grigor Dimitrov opens up about aftermath of Wimbledon heartbreak against Jannik Sinner

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov has opened up about the heartbreak at Wimbledon 2025. The 34-year-old can be classified as the most unlucky player to have played the sport in the recent past because of consistent struggles. Dimitrov recently suffered arguably one of the toughest outcomes on a tennis court as he was forced to retire during the fourth-round contest against world number one Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon.

The result was a heartbreaking one because Dimitrov was in complete control, having won the first two sets with a score of 6-3, 7-5. In the third set, while trying to make it 2-2, Dimitrov served for the game point and, in the process, tore a chest muscle, which made it impossible for him to continue, and as a result, Sinner went on to book his spot in the quarterfinal.

That injury not only forced Dimitrov to play no further role at Wimbledon but also forced him to withdraw from the ongoing US Open. It was not the first time that Dimitrov was forced to retire from a Grand Slam match this year. He had a similar fate in the first two Grand Slams as well. At the Australian Open, Dimitrov was forced to retire in the first round while playing against Italy’s Francesco Passaro. Later at the French Open, Dimitrov was once again forced to retire in the first round, that time while facing America’s Ethan Quinn.

Dimitrov has spoken to Lacoste recently, where he spoke about how difficult it was to deal with the injury while in a commanding position playing against arguably one of the best players in the world. Dimitrov revealed that he cried for two hours in the locker room after that withdrawal. Dimitrov also highlighted that while dealing with the injury was ‘painful’, what was more difficult for him was to deal with everything from the mental aspect.

“Ever since I walked off the court, I let myself not think about what happened because it was a tough moment,” said Dimitrov. “It was a physically painful moment, but that doesn’t really bother me, it’s more of the mental aspect of things that really kicked in for me, it was just so surreal. The one thing that I remember is as soon as it happened, I went into the locker room and cried straight up for a couple of hours and then my mind just completely changed right after.”

Talking about his future objectives, Dimitrov admitted that rehab is taking ‘longer’ that what he and his team were expecting at the beginning but stated that he is ‘no rush’ to return to the court. “I got up, I showered and I was already thinking about focusing on the rehab,” said Dimitrov. “At some point actually, I was way busier than when I’m playing tennis, so that was very odd. I’m finding a good balance for now and I’m not really stressing too much. There’s always something that keeps pulling me back into it and I’m always trying to stay in shape and pushing myself to do the best that I can. The rehab is taking longer than what we actually thought, but at the same time, I’m in no rush to try to come back at the moment.”

That moment in the fourth round turned out to be a lucky charm for Sinner, who not only qualified for the quarterfinal but also went on to lift his maiden Wimbledon title after beating Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the final with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. While talking during his on-court interview after the match on that day, Sinner admitted that he did not want to win it like this. "I don't take this as a win at all,” said Sinner back then. "He is an incredible player, we all saw this today. It's been so unlucky in the past couple of years. An incredible player, a good friend of mine — we understand each other very well off the court too. If there would be a chance that he would play in the next round, he would deserve [it]. But now I hope he has a speedy recovery."