Wimbledon star forced to retire with horror injury on first day of the tournament
Former men's world No. 10 Denis Shapovalov was forced to retire from his opening Wimbledon match due to a brutal injury.
All eyes descended on South West London on Monday morning as Wimbledon 2026 officially got underway.
Ahead of the opening round several of the biggest names in the sport were forced to withdraw, with British stars Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu among the 19 players to have pulled out.
Despite this, the opening round has seen plenty of excitement with men's no.1 Jannik Sinner taken to five sets in a thrilling match with Serbia's Miomir Kecmanović.
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However, the first day of the tournament also saw further heartbreak as Canadian Wimbledon star Shapovalov was forced to retire during his clash with Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta in his opening match.
During the match, the former world No. 10 crashed into the wall on the corner of Court 6 and injured his shoulder.
READ MORE: The 19 players that have now withdrawn before Wimbledon first round matches including six seeds
A forehand from Carreño Busta sent his opponent into the wall at an alarming speed and although the wall was covered in padding, it clearly caused some issues.
Immediately after the shocking moment, both the umpire and Shapovalov's opponent rushed over to aid the clearly distressed Shapovalov, who eventually got up and tried to play on.
But, after losing the second set 7-6, he made the tough call to retire from the match rather than further aggravating the injury.
“Sorry man, I think I f****d it," he told his opponent.
The former semi-finalist at Wimbledon, who beat Andy Murray in the process, has now won just one match since mid-April.
Meanwhile the walkover victory represents a first win at Wimbledon for Carreño Busta.
Wimbledon stars suffer brutal injuries during opening matches
Unfortunately, Shapovalov was not the only player to retire from this year’s Championships during their opening match.
France's Luca Van Assche was forced to quit his first round match against Marton Fucsovics with a back issue while down 6-3 4-0.
Meanwhile Poland's Maja Chwalinska slipped and twisted her ankle and when she was about to win with a match point in her opening match against Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
Although the fall didn't lead to her retiring, the No. 20 seed then went on to lose the match 6-2, 5-7, 2-6.
Ben McCrum