WIMBLEDON, England -- After his stunning second-round exit at Roland Garros just over a month ago, many expected Jannik Sinner to make a statement in his opener at Wimbledon on Monday.
He did, although it wasn't exactly the one he was hoping for.
Instead of returning to the dominant level he had shown all spring before the French Open -- winning all five Masters 1000-level events -- Sinner once again looked vulnerable and needed to fight his way to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 victory over world No. 50 Miomir Kecmanovic. The heavy favorite entering the tournament, the defending champ created seeds of doubt and showed that this might just be another wide-open major for the sport's top men.
"It was a little tight in the beginning," Sinner told the crowd after the match. "Didn't play my very best but tried to get into it. It was my first match [of the season] on grass. This also is very important. I'm happy that I turned it around."
Before the French Open, no one not named Sinner or Alcaraz had won a men's Grand Slam title since 2023, and it seemed unlikely that trend would be reversed anytime soon. And with the prolonged absence of Carlos Alcaraz due to a wrist injury, the 24-year-old Sinner was widely expected to sweep the natural-court surface majors this season.
But of course, that's not what happened. Clearly plagued by the sweltering heat of the afternoon sun during a Parisian heat wave, Sinner was stunned in the second round by Juan Manuel Cerundolo in five sets after once holding a commanding lead in the third set. He lost 18-straight points and seven games during his meltdown. Sinner, who has a repeated history in struggling in the heat, said he experienced dizziness, fatigue and weakness.
Sinner then opted to not play in any of the lead-in events on grass and instead focused on recovery and training. He arrived in London "quite early" to get a feel for the grass at the tournament and said he and his team worked on "small details and small changes" in hopes of being better prepared for hot weather at Wimbledon and in the future.
"We are doing as much as we can," Sinner told reporters Saturday at the All England Club. "I'm very happy with the work we did in the last 2½ weeks. Very long days. I feel well-prepared."
During a practice session last week with Novak Djokovic that was recorded for the BBC, the seven-time Wimbledon champion told Sinner to enjoy the moment of walking out for his first match.
"Walking out on Centre Court on the fresh grass, virgin grass, as defending champion, I don't think there is any feeling that can match that in tennis," he said.
On Monday, with the temperature at a comfortable 73 degrees Fahrenheit at the start of the match and with the nearly full crowd eager to welcome him back, everything seemed to be aligning for a routine Sinner victory. IBM watsonx gave him a 76% likelihood to win at the start and he held a 4-0 record over Kecmanovic. But Sinner admitted, in the excitement of returning to the site of his milestone victory in 2025, that he was overwhelmed with emotion as he took the court.
"It was a very, very different feeling," Sinner said on court. "There's a lot of nerves when you go down the stairs behind the court. So also mentally knowing it's such a prestigious court and such a historical court and coming back here as defending champion means a lot to me, even though every year is different, every year can be very, very tough."
During his news conference, he called himself "very nervy" in the moments before walking on court and added that there was another level of discomfort as no one had even practiced on the grass on Centre Court prior to the tournament this year.
"It was brand new [grass]," he said. "Mentally you know it."
All of those feelings of uncertainty showed. He had 10 unforced errors in the first eight games of the match (and a total of 15 in the opening set) and then had back-to-back double faults to get broken in the ninth game. Kecmanovic served out the set by winning every point of the final game.
And some of Sinner's fears about the untested grass were realized as well. He took a hard fall behind the baseline during the third set and didn't immediately get up. Soon after, his right foot began to bleed through his sneaker. But while he changed his shirt after losing the third set in a tiebreak, he never as much glanced at his foot, let alone change his sneakers. He later explained it was from a toenail but said it didn't impact him at all. "No, it was good," he told reporters. "All good."
Having lost his previous five matches that had gone to a deciding set, and with the memory of Paris still fresh, it didn't look promising for Sinner as the match dragged on. Kecmanovic felt the same. Asked if what happened to Sinner at the French Open was a reminder that the favorite was human -- and beatable -- he agreed.
"I mean, yes," Kecmanovic said. "If I expect, you know, [it] to be 40 degrees [Celsius] and to play four hours, then yes. You know, to get to that point, you know you need a lot of good points, good play."
Other players were likely watching Monday's match and wondering if they too could have a chance against Sinner, especially when not at his best.
He will next take on Nuno Borges, who is ranked No. 48, on Wednesday, and Sinner said he was looking forward to having Tuesday to make adjustments and find "the right rhythm." Sinner won their only previous match, but it was nearly four years ago and on an indoor hard court. Borges reached the semifinals in Mallorca last week and has some momentum on his side.
If Sinner advances Wednesday, he will face the winner of No. 31 seed Ignacio Buse versus Jenson Brooksby. One of two rising stars in Rafael Jodar, the No. 23 seed, or Ethan Quinn, the runner-up at Mallorca, would likely await in the fourth round -- and both have the potential to play spoiler. Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion and No. 8 seed, could be Sinner's quarterfinal opponent, and that might be an even more dangerous outing. Medvedev has pushed Sinner to deciding sets in both of their meetings this season and defeated him in the 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinals.
And perhaps no one could benefit more from Sinner's vulnerability than Djokovic. The two could meet in the semifinals, and with his vast experience and success on the grass -- and with time inevitably running out on his dream to win his record-setting 25th major title -- Djokovic would do everything in his power to defeat his young rival. Djokovic, 39, did just that in the same round at the Australian Open earlier this year.
Make no mistake, all of these players mentioned will study what went wrong for Sinner on Monday, and they have to believe they can push him, too.
But still, despite the struggles with Kecmanovic and the potential looming challenge against Borges, Sinner was pleased with how the day went in his first outing at the All England Club as the defending champion.
"It has been an amazing, amazing day for me to feel this way at least once in my life," he said. "Yeah, I think I handled the situation still quite well. Yeah, it was very nervy, but very happy that I found a way today."