Was Dimitrov's injury caused by the break to close the roof?

What happened last night with Grigor Dimitrov is an unfortunate event. The height of bad luck. The Bulgarian got injured when he was leading two sets to zero against Jannik Sinner, and comments began to surface, many pointing fingers at Wimbledon. Minutes before the fateful moment, the organizers stopped the match for 15 minutes to close the roof, and some attribute Grigor's injury to this break, suggesting that the players lost their momentum. Could it really have been the case?

It's the same story every year with Wimbledon. It never fails. At the beginning of the tournament, there's praise for British tradition, dressing in white, strawberries and cream, the lush green grass, finishing matches by 11 p.m., and the "special" strict rules of a tournament that follows its own path. No other tournament is quite like it. But as we reach the middle of the tournament, most people become tired of the various interruptions that disrupt the flow of a Grand Slam event.

Yesterday, Andy Murray criticized on Twitter the decision to close the roof when there was still an hour of daylight left. He had a point, but Wimbledon has always closed the roof around 8:30 p.m. UK time to avoid stopping a match later in the set. They always do it between sets to make the transition as natural as possible. Those 15 minutes, after playing for two hours, can disrupt anyone's rhythm.

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! 👎

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) July 7, 2025

This is because Wimbledon is not allowed to turn on the Central Court lights without the roof closed to avoid bothering the neighbors. Yes, you read that right. Just like they can't play past 11:00 p.m. due to municipal regulations, they can't turn on the lights to avoid disturbing the nearby residents. The players have no choice but to comply. This is also part of Wimbledon's tradition. You have to do as they say, even if many of these rules seem outdated in 2025.

Considering that we are dealing with a historic and special tournament, the big tennis authorities should seriously discuss changing things that no longer make sense. Can you imagine a football match being suspended in the 67th minute because there are no stadium lights? Can you imagine stopping a basketball game in the third quarter because it starts raining and there's no roof? This sort of thing happens in one of the four major tennis tournaments. And the worst part is that there's no effort to change it.

In the last decade, Wimbledon has made changes to its traditions, such as not playing on the first Sunday of the competition, introducing the supertiebreak in the fifth set to avoid situations like Isner-Mahut or Isner-Anderson, or this year's decision to use electronic line-calling.

It's good that they are adapting to the current world's needs. If they want to keep forcing people to spend all night in line to get a ticket, that's their choice, but they should at least allow a full day of tennis without external factors affecting the matches.

Could the 15-minute breaks during matches lead to incidents like Dimitrov's yesterday? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. We'll never know. What's clear is that such interruptions disrupt the flow of a match when players are in their top form. If they cannot change the policy about not turning on the lights so a few neighbors might be bothered by light or noise a couple of days a year, at least they should try closing the roof while the match is ongoing. Because I believe that neither noise nor a closing roof can significantly affect the game itself.

Not to mention that tennis is an outdoor sport, and closing the roof slightly alters the playing conditions. It directly affects everything.

Dimitrov may ponder what happened, and he might wonder how it all unfolded. Perhaps he would have been injured regardless of the roof closure break, but in 2025, we are still bound by archaic rules from another era in a sport that aspires to be a global reference. And despite everything, we are doing quite well.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, ¿La lesión de Dimitrov fue provocada por el parón para cerrar el techo?