Grigor Dimitrov broke down in tears after being forced to retire from his Wimbledon fourth-round match with Jannik Sinner.
Dimitrov was leading world number one Sinner by two sets when he began to struggle with what appeared to be a pectoral injury.
The 34-year-old was seen holding the affected area and then after a serve collapsed to the Wimbledon turf and called for the physio.
After briefly being treated on Centre Court, Dimitrov was given a medical timeout and headed off to receive more treatment.
The spectators were hoping for a quick recovery but when Dimitrov returned to the court he immediately informed Sinner he was unable to continue.
Dimitrov sobbed as he was helped back to his chair by Sinner, who himself had struggled with an injury issue earlier in the match.
The Bulgarian tennis star even struggled to lift his arm to shake hands with the chair umpire before he left the court in tears, his Wimbledon dream ended in the most cruel circumstances.
An emotional Sinner, who consoled Dimitrov and sat beside him as he received treatment, said: ‘I don’t know what to say.
‘He is an incredible player and we all saw this today. He has been so unlucky in the past couple of years. He is an incredible player who is a good friend of mine.
‘We understand each other very well off the court. Seeing him in this position – if there was a chance for him to be in the next round he would deserve it. I hope he has a speedy recovery.
‘I don’t take this as a win at all, this is just an unfortunate moment for us to witness.
‘He has struggled in Grand Slams with injuries a lot so seeing him again with this injury is very tough. We all saw by his reaction how much he cares about the sport and he is one of the hardest working players on tour.
‘Thank you for coming, but this is not the end we wanted to see and it’s very sad. We all wish him only the best – let’s give an applause for him and his team.’
Dimitrov produced two excellent sets to take control of his fourth-round clash with three-time Grand Slam champion Sinner.
Sinner was visibly struggling with an elbow injury after a fall in the opening set and received treatment on the problem from a doctor.
Reacting to the emotional scenes on Centre Court, two-time Grand Slam champion Tracy Austin said on BBC One: ‘How well Grigor Dimitrov was playing is the hard part.
‘You know that his game matches up so well on this surface. He has that ability to hit a heavy slice that stays down so low.
‘The fact that it was one serve that did it for him is the hard part. This is a man who has put his heart and soul into this sport.
‘He works so hard and he is so fit. He crosses all the t’s and dots all the i’s. It all happened on one shot.
‘He must be so desperately disappointed because somewhere in his thoughts will have been that he was two sets up and Jannik Sinner isn’t playing his best tennis.’
Former British number one Tim Henman added: ‘Grigor played a brilliant two sets to be up against the world number one, but then in the blink of an eye his body failed him. He had no opportunity to continue.
‘It will be a strange emotion for Jannik Sinner, who will go through to the quarter-finals.’
While Sinner’s initial thoughts were with Dimitrov, he will soon reflect on a fortuitous route into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, where he will face American Ben Shelton.
Sinner was faultless during his first three games in SW19 – failing to lose a set – but was below-par for much of his clash with Dimitrov and hindered by the elbow problem.
It remains to be seen how serious the issue is and whether Sinner will be fully fit for Wednesday’s clash with world number ten Shelton.
Before his meeting with Dimitrov, Sinner was considered one of the three main contenders for the Wimbledon title alongside two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and seven-time winner Novak Djokovic.
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