Jannik Sinner was seen vomiting into a wheelie bin during a break while playing against Grigor Dimitrov at the China Open on Monday. Sinner prevailed after three sets to down his 32-year-old opponent and reach the semi-finals in Beijing, although he was clearly struggling with illness throughout the match.
The Italian was visibly unwell during his earlier win over Dan Evans and failed to recover in time to face Dimitrov, who levelled up in the second set but was unable to wrap things up in the third. Sinner was even spotted vomiting into a bin during a break between games as his illness began to take its toll.
His condition did not stop him from playing on, though, with the 23-year-old eventually powering through to set up a mouthwatering semi-final meeting with Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner will be hoping to spring a major surprise on the Spaniard when they face each other on Tuesday for a place in the final against either Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev.
Sinner’s win on Monday came just a few days after he was mocked by Evans despite beating the Brit in the first round of the China Open. He slipped while trying to return an Evans serve in the closing stages of the decisive set and looked to be hurt as he fell to the ground clutching his thigh.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news
He later called for the physio, leaving Evans unimpressed before the latter mimicked a limp and clutched his right thigh during a changeover soon afterwards. Sinner ended up having the last laugh, though, as he clinched an impressive victory to send Evans crashing out of the tournament.
Sinner insisted before facing Dimitrov on Monday that he was still yet to recover fully, with his illness only making things harder on top of the injury he suffered against Evans. He later admitted that he was proud of his resilience to stay in the zone against Dimitrov after digging deep for the entirety of the match.
“I had one game 15-40, one game 0-40 where I made some unforced errors and he also played quite aggressive,” reflected Sinner in his on-court interview.
“This is tennis. Obviously it’s easier if you take those chances. In the third set I thought I handled the situation well, especially when serving at a tough moment at 4-2. I’m very happy to be in the next round.”
Follow our Express Sport page on Instagram here.
