The No. 1 men’s tennis player in the world has been taken out in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Jannik Sinner, who was also seeded No. 1 at the tournament, lost to Daniil Medvedev, who is seeded fifth. Medvedev won 6(7)-7, 6-4, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3.
It was a hard-fought victory for Medvedev. There were no easy moments for either player, but he’s the one who came out on top. He and Sinner were neck and neck throughout the first set, which required a tiebreak to decide the winner. Medvedev appeared to run out of gas during the tiebreak, but he had his revenge in the next set. He started a ruthless winning streak, and Sinner couldn’t dig himself out of the hole.
The third set started out like the second, with Sinner winning the first game and then dropping the next three. But something was off with Sinner. He seemed a little lightheaded and disoriented, and eventually left the court. It didn’t appear to be a called medical timeout, but Sinner was gone for more than five minutes. When he returned, it appeared very little had changed.
Down 5-3 with his back against the wall, Sinner ripped off three straight wins to tie the set at 5-5. At 6-6 they took it to a tiebreak, which Medvedev won relatively easily.
Despite not being able to complete the third set comeback, Sinner was energized. He mowed down Medvedev in the fourth set 6-2, leaving the entire match riding on the fifth and final set.
Just like most of the match, the deciding set was a battle. But Medvedev got himself on a roll early, leaving Sinner, who appeared to be experiencing some cramping or pain in his calf, in the dust. Sinner had come all the way back from some dangerous looking mid-match wobbles, but couldn’t overcome his own unforced errors or Medvedev’s big serve and patient relentlessness.
Medvedev will face the winner of the match between Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and American Tommy Paul.