Grigor Dimitrov returns to a tennis court this afternoon after his Wimbledon retirement when he was subduing Sinner

Grigor Dimitrov will play a round of 64 match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard this afternoon (no earlier than 19:00 CET, 18:00 BST) in his first tennis match since his heartbreaking injury in Wimbledon’s round of 16, where he came very close of defeating Jannik Sinner, but had to withdraw due to pectoral muscle injury.

Sinner went on to win the tournament and thrash Carlos Alcaraz in the final, but history almost changed, as the Bulgarian was leading 6-3, 7-5 in the first two sets. He retired when the third set was 2-2, and Sinner automatically moved to quarter-finals. “I don’t take this as a win at all”, the Italian said.

14 weeks later, Dimitrov will make a return in the Paris Masters, where he reached the final in 2023, the last big tournament of the year before ATP Finals (where Dimitrov has no chance to qualify). He admitted that his main goal is to “come back to full force next year, but it’s a great challenge for me right now just to see how the body will respond” (via ATP Tour).

“There are a lot of good and mixed feelings in the most positive way, but it’s nice to be back with the boys and starting to challenge each other again”, Dimitrov said, admitting that he is trying to keep thing simple in his return. He will face local favourite Perricard in round of 64. If he wins, he would face Jaume Munar or Daniil Medvedev.

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