World No.1 beats Norrie in Hurlingham Club exhibition match after dramatic Paris collapse, and is favourite to retain Wimbledon title with Alcaraz sidelined.
Jannik Sinner made a confident return to competitive action on Wednesday, defeating British number one Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3 on the grass of the Hurlingham Club in London.
The match, an exhibition at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic — a traditional Wimbledon warm-up event — came less than a month after the world No.1 suffered a distressing collapse during his fourth-round match at the French Open on 28 May.
Paris setback
Sinner had been among the favourites to win Roland Garros when he ran into difficulty against world number 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina. With victory within reach, the South Tyrolean was struck by dizziness in the Paris heat.
The 24-year-old subsequently underwent a battery of tests at Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital last week and has been cleared to compete at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday. He may wear a cooling vest between games as a precautionary measure.
Wimbledon favourite
Sinner now arrives at SW19 as the defending champion and the bookmakers’ favourite to retain his title. His position is helped by the absence of his principal rival, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who is sidelined with a wrist injury having also missed Paris.
Alcaraz, 23, has won seven grand slam titles to Sinner’s four.
