World number one Jannik Sinner battles past Nuno Borges to reach the Wimbledon third round, but admits the physical crisis that cost him at Roland Garros remains only partly solved.
Italy’s world number one Jannik Sinner has said he and his team have got to the bottom of the physical crisis that led to his second-round loss at the French Open in May, but he has not ruled out it happening again.
“Yes, we understand,” Sinner told reporters when asked about the crisis after beating Nuno Borges of Portugal 7-6 7-6 6-4 on Wednesday to progress to the third round of Wimbledon.
“It could happen again because a solution can’t be found (just) like that; it’s a slightly broader issue,” he added, without giving details of the nature of the problem.
“We’re doing everything we can to ensure it doesn’t happen again, but if it were to happen again, we’d understand at that point that perhaps the path we’re taking isn’t the right one.”
What happened in Paris
The four-time Grand Slam winner had been two sets up and leading 5-1 in the third against Cerundolo at Roland Garros, on the verge of a routine victory, when he suffered dizziness, fatigue and weakness in the Paris heat. He won just one more game from that position, dropping 18 consecutive points at one stage, and went on to lose in five sets in one of the biggest upsets of the year. Sinner had been odds-on favourite to win the tournament.
Sinner subsequently underwent a barrage of tests at Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital as part of the effort to identify the cause. He also skipped the grass-court warm-up events before Wimbledon in favour of recovery and training, arriving in London early to adjust to the surface and to work on “small details and small changes” aimed at coping better with heat.
A shaky start at the All England Club
The 24-year-old South Tyrolean needed five sets to see off Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in his Wimbledon opener on Monday, before settling down to beat Borges in straight sets on Wednesday. He next faces American Jenson Brooksby for a place in the fourth round.
Sinner is the defending champion at Wimbledon, having beaten Carlos Alcaraz in last year’s final for his maiden title there, and remains the tournament favourite with the Spaniard sidelined by a wrist injury.
Berrettini, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2021, is into the third round after beating Frenchman Fils in four sets today. Beset by injuries recently, Berrettini now ranked no.51 in the world, saw off the 20 seed, 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
