Jannik Sinner’s defence of the Wimbledon title began with three hours and thirty minutes of unrelenting tension on Centre Court, ending in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic. The world number one, playing his first competitive match since a physical collapse at Roland Garros a month earlier, twice trailed by a set and was forced to save his tournament after a jarring fall left his right shoe stained crimson. “It seems much worse than it is – just a nail,” Sinner said afterwards, adding with a thin smile that he was surprised officials allowed him to continue given Wimbledon’s all-white dress code.

The match turned on a sequence midway through the third set. With the score locked at two games apiece, Sinner lost his footing retreating along the baseline, his left leg buckling awkwardly beneath him. He remained on the turf for several moments, clutching his hip, as the crowd fell silent. He rose without calling for the trainer, but the blood spreading across the outer side of his shoe was soon visible to television audiences across Europe. Kecmanovic, ranked 51st, held his nerve to force a tie-break and saved a set point with a lunging volley before converting his own opportunity to move two sets to one ahead. Italian media described the moment as a collective intake of breath; British commentators noted the eerie parallel with Carlos Alcaraz’s own five-set first-round ordeal as defending champion a year earlier.

Sinner’s response was immediate and emphatic. He rediscovered the rhythm on his first serve that had deserted him in the opening set, where he committed fifteen unforced errors and was broken from 40-0 up. Across the fourth and fifth sets he struck with increasing authority, breaking Kecmanovic’s serve three times and firing 31 aces in total. The Serbian, who had never taken a set off Sinner in four previous meetings, could not sustain his early intensity. The victory ended a sequence of five consecutive five-set defeats for the Italian, a statistic that had begun to shadow his grand-slam campaigns.

Viewed from the Italian press, the performance was a test of nerve as much as technique, coming only weeks after Sinner had led Juan Manuel Cerundolo by two sets and 5-1 in Paris before succumbing to dizziness and cramp. He had skipped the traditional grass-court warm-up events, arriving at the All England Club with only an exhibition match as preparation. With Carlos Alcaraz absent through a wrist injury, Sinner remains the tournament’s clear favourite, but the physical toll of this opener was evident. He will need to recover quickly: his second-round opponent on Wednesday is Portugal’s Nuno Borges, who advanced in straight sets.