Jannik Sinner avoided becoming the first top seed to crash out of the Wimbledon men’s draw since 2003 by outlasting Miomir Kecmanovic in a marathon first round encounter.
The world No. 1 was at one stage trailing by two sets to one before battling to a gut-busting 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 victory in what was a far from vintage performance from the Italian. Sinner experienced wobbles during some clutch moments at the match. In the first set, he hit back-to-back double faults, followed by a forehand error to get broken at 4-4. Then, in the third set, he had set point at 6-5 but then lost three points in a row.
The 24-year-old, who decided not to play any Tour-level grass events leading up to Wimbledon for the first time in his career, hit 52 unforced errors but compensated for them with 72 winners during the three-and-a-half-hour encounter. The victory is a much-needed boost for the Italian, who was playing his first match since the French Open. In Paris, he lost in the second round after leading by two sets before suffering from severe cramping in the heat.
“It’s a huge honour to start the tournament for the first player to come out here,” Sinner said during his on-court interview.
“It was a little tight at the beginning, I didn’t play my very best but tried to get into it. It was my first official match on grass.
“I’m happy that I turned it around, the third set was a very tough one to swallow but I’m very happy.”
Blood was seen oozing out of Sinner’s trainers after he took a nasty fall during the third set. Although he states that no damage was done, it looked worse than it actually was.
“I’m very surprised they let me keep playing because all white it turned into a little red,” Sinner joked in reference to Wimbledon’s all-white policy.
“It’s just a toenail.”
Sinner is bidding to defend his title at Wimbledon. He has already won five trophies this year, which were all at Masters 1000 events.
“Coming back here as defending champion means a lot to me so I’m very happy to have won my first match,” he said.
“Of course I will try to aim for a couple of improvements for my next match, but today I can feel very happy. I felt a lot of mistakes on my forehand side in the first set, which is normal so I tried to accept that. I thought I raised my level when I really needed to.
“This is tennis, every day is different, I’m very happy to be in the next round.
It is the seventh time in his career that Sinner has won a five-set match in 19 attempts. He has now won 94 matches across all major events, which has equalled the all-time record for an Italian men’s player. The other to reach this milestone is Nicola Pietrangeli.
