World no 1 Jannik Sinner survives scare to reach Wimbledon 2026 second round
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "World no 1 Jannik Sinner survives scare to reach Wimbledon 2026 second round")
World no 1 Jannik Sinner survives scare to reach Wimbledon 2026 second round Photograph: (Wimbledon)
Reigning champion Jannik Sinner survives a massive five-set scare and a dramatic injury scare against Miomir Kecmanovic on Wimbledon's opening day. Read more!
Reigning Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner survived two dramatic falls during his first match on the grass this season against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic to win in five sets and advance to the second round. Twice in two back-to-back Slams this year, Sinner could have suffered an early exit, but he showed grit to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2, 6-3 on the Centre Court on Monday (Jun 29). Courtesy of a clinical showing in the final sets, he somehow cruised; otherwise, he would have been the first defending champion to lose in Wimbledon’s first round since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.
"It was a very, very different feeling," Sinner said in his on-court interview when asked how starting his Wimbledon title defence compared to a regular match. "There were a lot of nerves when I went down the stairs to the court, knowing that it's such a prestigious court. Coming here as defending champion means a lot to me."
Monday’s outing is the Italian’s first tournament since collapsing from two sets and 5-1 up to lose to Juan Manuel Cerundolo at Roland Garros.
"It's a huge honour to start the tournament and be the first player (on Centre Court)," Sinner said. "I was a little tight in the first set, and it was my first match on grass of the season."
Although he did lose his footing on several occasions on the slippery grass surface, Sinner thankfully avoided sliding out of the tournament.
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Meanwhile, Kecmanovic surprisingly took the first set as a nervy Sinner gave up the only break in the ninth game, which featured back-to-back double faults.
He found his rhythm sufficiently in the second set to level the match. There was a nervy moment for Sinner midway through the third set when he slipped at the back of the court and stayed motionless for 30 seconds, as the concerned chair umpire left her chair to approach him.
But after gingerly getting back to his feet, Sinner's movement did not seem to be significantly impaired.
Kecmanovic pushed him all the way to a tie-break, and then saved set point in a marathon rally before taking the third set himself as Sinner sent a backhand sailing long.
The top seed gathered himself again, though, to send the match into a decider with a clinical fourth set.
Sinner had lost his last five five-set matches, and he took a seven-minute break ahead of the final act on this occasion.
A single break in the sixth game put him 4-2 ahead, and he confidently served out the victory.
(With inputs from AFP)
