LONDON (AP) — Jannik Sinner advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals despite hurting his right elbow in a fall in the opening game and dropping the first two sets Monday night, when his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, wound up quitting in the third because of an injured pectoral muscle.
Sinner said he will have an MRI exam Tuesday on his elbow “to see if there’s something serious” and added in Italian: “There is some concern.”
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Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov gets treatment after he went down with an injury which forced him to retire injured from a fourth round men's singles match against Italy's Jannik Sinner at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov clutches his chest with an injury which forced him to retire injured from a fourth round men's singles match against Italy's Jannik Sinner at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Italy's Jannik Sinner checks on Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov after he went down with an injury during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Italy's Jannik Sinner grimaces as he receives medical treatment against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
The No. 1-seeded Sinner hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament until falling behind No. 19 Dimitrov 6-3, 7-5. But at 2-all in the third set, Dimitrov stopped playing.
It's the fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament where the 34-year-old Dimitrov failed to complete a match. He also did it at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in May, plus last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
“He's been so unlucky in the past couple of years. An incredible player. A good friend of mine, also. We understand each other very well, off the court, too,” Sinner said. “I hope he has a speedy recovery.”
On the last point against Sinner, Dimitrov served and immediately clutched his chest with his left hand. He took a few steps and crouched, before sitting on the grass. Sinner walked over to that side of the court to check on him.
“My pec,” Dimitrov told Sinner.
Dimitrov — a three-time major semifinalist, including at Wimbledon in 2014 — then went to the sideline, sat in his chair and was checked by a trainer and doctor. As Dimitrov talked with them, Sinner knelt nearby. After a delay of a few minutes, Dimitrov walked toward the locker room with the medical personnel.
Soon, he reemerged and said he couldn’t continue.
“I don't take this as a win, at all,” Sinner said. “This is just a very unfortunate moment to witness for all of us.”
Two hours earlier, it was Sinner down on the ground and seemingly in trouble. He was hurt on the match's seventh point, when his foot gave out from under him as he ran to his left and he slipped and fell behind a baseline, bracing his fall with his right hand while still holding his racket.
During a medical timeout while trailing 3-2 in the second set, Sinner winced as a trainer massaged the elbow. Sinner's coaches, Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi, looked on from their box with concern.
Sinner was given a pill to take and play resumed. He frequently shook his right arm or rubbed his elbow between points.
The 23-year-old Italian is a three-time Grand Slam champion who will play No. 10 Ben Shelton of the United States for a berth in the semifinals. Sinner leads the head-to-head series 5-1 and has won their past five matches, all in straight sets, including at Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open this year.
Sinner entered Monday having lost a total of just 17 games in the tournament, tying the record for the fewest in the Open era by man at Wimbledon through three completed matches.
Right after he fell behind by two sets against Dimitrov, the match was paused so the stadium’s retractable roof could be closed because of fading sunlight.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray was not a fan of that decision, writing on social media: “So ridiculous to close the roof at this stage of the match. At least an hour of light left….well over a set of tennis can still be played..its an outdoor tournament!”
About a half-hour later, the match was over.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov gets treatment after he went down with an injury which forced him to retire injured from a fourth round men's singles match against Italy's Jannik Sinner at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov clutches his chest with an injury which forced him to retire injured from a fourth round men's singles match against Italy's Jannik Sinner at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Italy's Jannik Sinner checks on Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov after he went down with an injury during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Italy's Jannik Sinner grimaces as he receives medical treatment against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov during a fourth round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.
The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.
Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.
Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.
Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”
About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.
But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.
Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.
Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”
Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, front left, speak with each other during a group photo at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte look at each other as they deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with his wife Jeanette at Malmo Airport, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Malmo-Sturup, Sweden, ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
