A few minutes into the long-awaited quarter-final between Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton, the camera operators on No 1 Court had already completed their first searching look at the elaborate bandaging and long, white sleeve seemingly holding together the Italian’s fragile elbow.
In this match between the world No 1 and another of the most exciting young players in the sport, the narrative had already been set. After Sinner’s physical struggles in the previous round, all eyes rested on his elbow. He responded to those concerns with a soaring, emphatic performance, neutralising the nuclear Shelton serve as he returned to the Wimbledon semi-finals with an efficient 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 win.
Regardless of his physical concerns or the significant mental challenge of bouncing back from his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final, Sinner’s consistency is eternal. With this victory, he is the 12th player in the open era to reach four consecutive grand slam semi-finals. Every time he steps on to the court, he is such an incredibly difficult player to beat.
From the beginning, Sinner looked entirely like himself as he put together a dominant performance, effortlessly taking care of his service games and overwhelming Shelton from the baseline with his relentless weight of shot, depth and consistency: on Tuesday, as he awaited the results of his MRI, there were ample doubts surrounding his continued participation, but he remains one of the contenders as he pursues his first Wimbledon title.
As Sinner and Shelton stepped on to No 1 Court, the buildup to this encounter had been dominated by Monday’s events in Sinner’s remarkable fourth round win against Grigor Dimitrov. In the opening game, Sinner had slipped awkwardly and landed on his elbow. As he struggled, Sinner was bulldozed for two sets by a supreme Dimitrov and he was at serious risk of defeat until disaster struck.
While leading 6-3, 7-5, 2-2, Dimitrov abruptly tore his pectoral muscle and he was forced to immediately retire. As Dimitrov left the court in tears, Sinner’s thoughts immediately shifted to his own injury. Sinner underwent a scan but his team chose not to disclose the results.
Fifty minutes into this quarter-final, those doubts were gone. The two shots likely to be affected by a right elbow injury, Sinner’s serve and forehand, were in devastating form from the start as he shut Shelton out of his service games throughout a high-quality, serve-dominated set. At the end of the set, he had struck just one unforced error and lost just two points on his serve.
With the first set secured, Sinner relaxed and continued to dominate his service games. In both the second and third sets, Sinner threw everything at Shelton when he reached 5-4, landing ample returns, forcing the American into prolonged exchanges and allowing the scoreboard pressure to do the rest. Both times, Shelton’s backhand did not hold up.
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Despite the defeat, this was another immense tournament for Shelton, who in two and a half years since leaving college has already reached two grand slam semi-finals and two quarter-finals while making dramatic improvements to his game. However, against the No 1 player in the world, this match-up was a measure of how far he has to go. Shelton’s strengths are immense – his serve remains monstrous and he backs it up with his destructive, versatile forehand, excellent athleticism and ample variation in his shots.
However, against such a well-rounded player such as Sinner, Shelton’s weaknesses were glaring. That he won just two points on Sinner’s serve in the entire first set and 19% of service points overall was also an indictment of his return. Although he has made significant improvements to his two-handed backhand, under pressure from an opponent who hits with such immense pace, weight and depth so consistently, his backhand invariably broke down in the prolonged exchanges.
As he tries to close the gap between himself and the top two players in the world, there is still a long way to go for Shelton, but that is true of just about everyone else too.
