Grigor Dimitrov withdraws from Shanghai Masters after failing to recover from heartbreaking injury suffered at Wimbledon

Grigor Dimitrov suffered an excruciating end to his 2025 Wimbledon campaign, as he had to leave the court with a painful pectoral muscle injury. He has still not recovered from this setback and will miss the upcoming Shanghai Masters.

The Masters 1000 event will be held between 1st-12th October, and is the penultimate 1000 event on the ATP circuit. The likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic will be competing at the event, with their few top players not set to participate. The highest ranked player not to play is Jack Draper, who has been nursing an arm injury and will not return until 2026.

Along with the number one Brit, Dimitrov has made the tough decision not to make the long trip to China, as he looks to recover from the nasty setback.

The 34-year-old has failed to conjure up any rhythm on court due to consistent injury woes. He has been labelled as injury-prone throughout his career. He has retired mid-match in 10 Grand Slam events throughout his career, the most of anyone in the Open Era.

This includes the last five majors he has competed in. It started at Wimbledon in 2024, when he retired while 5-3 down in the first set against Daniil Medvedev due to a groin injury. At the 2024 US Open, he was involved in a titanic battle against Frances Tiafoe, but decided to step off the court in the fourth set, due to an accumulation of factors, including fatigue from a previous string of tournaments, and ongoing physical issues.

Adding to that, he has suffered this fate in three of the majors this year. It all started at the Australian Open, where the Bulgarian could only muster up one full set against lucky loser Francesco Passaro. He lost it 7-5, before calling it a day 2-1 and a break down in the second set, citing a lower hip issue. Just before this, he had previously retired from the Brisbane International semi-final, prolonging on his bad luck.

Dimitrov followed that up by pulling out of the Dubai Tennis Championships whilst 6-0 down to Christopher O'Connell, before once again failed to make it past the first round at Roland Garros. This was the first time he was knocked out in consecutive opening round of majors since 2018.

He was defending a quarter-final he made last year, which made this an important event for him. Despite this, a thigh injury forced Dimitrov to leave the court in agony once more. He was 2-1 up against American Ethan Quinn.

The former world number three pulled out of Queens, meaning that he had little preparation on grass ahead of Wimbledon. This did not put him off, as he overcame Yoshihito Nishioka, Corentin Moutet, and Sebastian Ofner in commanding fashion. This set up a tie with world number one Jannik Sinner, who had looked unbeatable whilst on court.

It took a mammoth performance from Dimitrov to go two sets ahead of the Italian, who could not find his best game. However, with the third set tied 2-2, the unfortunate trend continued. Dimitrov had torn his pectoral muscle while serving, falling to the floor in pain. He has not stepped on the court since.

This injury has seen him miss the North American hardcourt swing, including the US Open. It looks like his comeback to the court has been delayed even further with the news of his absence from the Shanghai Masters. He has had previous experience at the event, defeating Carlos Alcaraz en route to the semi-finals in 2023, before losing out to Andrey Rublev in a tight affair. Last year, he was dumped out in the fourth round against the young Czech star Jakub Mensik.