Roger Federer returned to Wimbledon on Monday with his customary visit to the Centre Court for the third straight year since his retirement in 2022. He was present with his wife Mirka in the Royal Box as the couple watched Novak Djokovic beat Alex de Minaur to reach the men's singles quarterfinals, before Mirra Andreeva defeated Emma Navarro. However, in the final match of the day, he was left visibly shell-shocked when Grigor Dimitrov collapsed with an injury, before retiring from the round of 16 clash against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

The Bulgarian looked set for a first-quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon in 11 years, having breached the mark the only time in his career in 2014. He won the opening two sets against Sinner, and was locked on serve at 2-2 in the third when he showed a sign of discomfort when serving in the fifth game. He shrugged it off and delivered an ace, but fell on the ground immediately, clutching his chest and shouting, "My pec! My pec!"

As the medical staff examined Dimitrov, who was helped to the bench, Federer got up from his chair and was shocked. "There is a real look of concern and empathy," said the commentator on the Swiss legend as his petrified look went viral on social media.

Dimitrov left the court for further medical attention, but returned in two minutes to concede the match, leaving him inconsolable. He could barely wave to acknowledge the crowd's warm ovation as he bowed out of the tournament.

The injury-prone Dimitrov has now been forced to retire in each of his past five Grand Slam appearances.

Sinner, who survived a scare, said: "Honestly I don't know what to say. He is an incredible player, I think we all saw this today. 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. Seeing him in this position, honestly, if there would be a chance that he could play the next round, he would deserve it."

Sinner, who had been in regal form in the opening week in London, dropping just 17 games, will next face American 10th seed Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals. The latter beat Italy's Lorenzo Sonego in four sets earlier on Monday.

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