Jannik Sinner sets personal career record after winning first Wimbledon match
Jannik Sinner returned to winning ways in the first round of Wimbledon to truly put his early Roland Garros exit behind him.
The world No 1 needed five sets to dispatch Miomir Kecmanovic, and he showed excellent character and determination when he fell to a two sets to one lead.
While on paper this looked like a scare for Sinner, a lengthy, competitive match on the grass is arguably just what the Italian needed in the first round of Wimbledon.
Sinner showed some very promising signs on Centre Court and even his personal record as he swooped to a five-set win against the world No 58.
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Sinner set a new career-high in aces in his first round match with Kecmanovic, hitting 31 winners with his serve across the five sets.
While the World No 1 suffered with other aspects of his game, his serving was pretty sensational throughout the entire match. Sinner went the final four sets of the match without getting broken, having lost the third set on a tie-break.
Sinner’s immense serve accuracy was one of the key factors that helped him dominate from the Sunshine Double onwards. His pinpoint accuracy helped him claim Masters titles at Indian Wells, the Miami Open, the Monte Carlo Masters, the Madrid Open, and the Italian Open.
Serving is arguably more important on grass than it is on clay and hardcourts, which could be a real indicator that Sinner will be unbeatable at Wimbledon this year.
However, there are various aspects of Sinner’s game he will need to improve if he wants to go deeper in the competition.
The star hit a worrying 31 unforced errors against Kecmanovic, which was part of the reason he was forced to a decider against the talented Serb.
Sinner’s rustiness is understandable, however, as he has not played competitively since Roland Garros.
Grass is a tricky surface to adapt to and the World No 1 only played one match in preparation, an exhibition bout with Cameron Norrie at the Hurlingham Club.
All in all, Sinner will be delighted to squeeze through to the second round of Wimbledon and he will be positive he can play better than we saw against Kecmanovic.
He will next play Nuno Borges in the second round, who played three grass court events in the lead-up to Wimbledon in S’Hertogenbosch, Halle, and Mallorca.
Sinner will need to find his accuracy quicker than he did against Kecmanovic if he doesn’t want to avoid an early exit during his Wimbledon title defence.
Nevertheless, Sinner showed more than enough to suggest he could find the form he had on the European clay court Masters swing, rather than Roland Garros.
