One round further: Jannik Sinner © APA/afp / BEN STANSALL
Jannik Sinner had a bit of trouble starting the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament on Monday. The Sextner defeated the German Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the Grand Slam in Wimbledon, despite causing a moment of shock with a nasty-looking slip.
01. July 2024
By: leo
According to the bookmakers, Jannik Sinner is the number one favorite for the title at Wimbledon. The world number one, who recently won the ATP 500 tournament in Halle, was drawn in an extremely tricky draw in London. The first test was Yannick Hanfmann, a player who is only ranked 110th in the world rankings but has already shaken up one or two favorites in his career. Sinner was a size too big for the 32-year-old, however – the final score was 6:3, 6:4 and 3:6, 6:3.
This means that the second round on Wednesday will be a clash between former finalist Matteo Berrettini and Sinner. The Roman eliminated Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the first round with 7:6(3), 6:2, 3:6 and 6:1. Sinner and Berrettini have played against each other once before – at the Masters tournament in Toronto last year, which Sinner won. The final score was 6:3, 6:4 for the South Tyrolean, who knows, however, that Berrettini is a completely different proposition on grass.
Good start
Because defending champion Carlos Alcaraz traditionally opened the program on Center Court, Sinner had to move to Court 1, the second largest court. The fans who were there initially saw a match that went exactly as expected: Sinner didn’t let anything go wrong on his own serve and mercilessly exploited the opportunities he got. The first set went routinely to the Sextner with 6:3.
Even after an early break in the second set, it seemed as if Sinner had everything under control. Suddenly, however, the protégé of Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi had to fend off three break points in a row, which he managed. A little later, a murmur went through the stadium because Sinner slipped during a change of direction and grabbed his hip. But the favorite quickly signaled that he was fine. After the shock was over, Sinner showed the tennis he is known for again: Hanfmann, on the other hand, found no way and conceded a 0:2 set deficit.
But the resistance was not yet broken, because the German got off to a better start in the third set: Sinner struggled with the first serve, occasionally made mistakes from the baseline and the first break was already a fact. A little later, things got tough for the 22-year-old when Hanfmann even ran away to 4:0 thanks to a powerful backhand. Sinner did not let that get him down and showed an appropriate reaction: first he got a break back, then he shortened the score to 2:4 after fending off three break chances. But because Hanfmann played excellently and Sinner made mistakes at crucial moments, the match went into the fourth set.
Incredible ball
But first the roof had to be closed to avoid darkness. Sinner, an excellent indoor player, must have been pleased about that. And the Sextner actually played better right from the start. A point in the third game is an example of this and will probably make it into every highlight show. The youngster played a passing shot past Hanfmann with one hand. It was the initial spark for a phase in which Sinner played very well – and landed the break. After that he had no problem defending his lead.
