Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon hopes in doubt after injury at Halle Open

BERLIN – World No. 9 Jannik Sinner’s preparations for Wimbledon were disrupted on Friday after he retired injured while trailing Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals of the Halle Open.

The Italian fourth seed, 21, withdrew in the second set as his 26-year-old opponent made it to the semi-finals of the warm-up tournament ahead of the July 3-16 grass-court Grand Slam at the All England Club.

The extent of Sinner’s injury was not clear but organisers reportedly said that he strained his adductor. There was also no immediate comment from the player.

Bublik had won the first set 7-5 and was up 2-0 in the second when Sinner pulled out with the injury on his right leg.

The latter had taken a medical timeout at the end of the first set. He received treatment from a physiotherapist and played, but lost two more games before calling it quits.

It remains to be seen if Sinner, who had suffered a string of injuries in recent months, will be fit to compete at Wimbledon.

He had to retire after hurting his knee against Andrey Rublev at the 2022 French Open, which was followed by an ankle injury last October. He was also unable to compete in Marseille in February and Barcelona in April owing to illnesses.

Grass is a surface that suits him well – he reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last season before losing to eventual winner Novak Djokovic – but with a little more than a week left, the odds are against him to make a strong run in London.

Bublik, meanwhile, will be contesting a semi-final for the first time since reaching the last four in Marseille. He will face German star Alexander Zverev, who beat Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-5, 6-3.

While Sinner still has a chance to compete at Wimbledon, Russian Karen Khachanov has been forced to withdraw from the Grand Slam event. He said on Friday he had suffered a stress fracture in his back during the French Open.

“Due to an unfortunate injury I picked up at the French Open, I will not be able to participate at Wimbledon for the second year in a row,” he said, referring to Wimbledon’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players last season.

“The decision to withdraw was not an easy one and I was hoping till the end during these few weeks that I would be able to recover. However, my medical team (told me) me that in my case it wasn’t possible.”

Ranked No. 11 in the world, Khachanov reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros where he took a set off Djokovic before losing to the Serb.

The 27-year-old Russian was one of the in-form players at Grand Slams in the past 12 months, having also reached the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open and the Australian Open in January.

On Thursday, Venus Williams narrowly failed to reach her first WTA quarter-final in four years as the American legend was beaten by Jelena Ostapenko in the second round in Birmingham.

The 43-year-old, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, succumbed to a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 loss to her Latvian opponent.

After Williams went 2-0 ahead in the deciding set, the five-time Wimbledon winner looked to be on course for the last four.

But Ostapenko, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, recomposed herself and eventually shattered Williams’ hopes of a morale-boosting run at Birmingham ahead of the start of Wimbledon.

“Venus is a great player, a great champion and it’s an honour to share the court with her,” former French Open champion Ostapenko said. “She’s a very dangerous player, especially on grass. She was serving really well.

“I’m really happy I was fighting until the very last point. She’s an idol for a lot of people so it was very special.”

Williams has a wildcard entry for Wimbledon, where she made her debut in 1997 and reached her most recent Grand Slam final in 2017. AFP, REUTERS