Wimbledon 2024 favorite Jannik Sinner passes first-round test, sets up intriguing clash

Sign up to our free sports newsletter for the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing

Sign up to our free sports email for the latest news

Jannik Sinner is a very different player to the one who left the All England Club on Friday, July 14, 2023. When the Italian left Wimbledon after a straight-sets defeat to seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, he was the world No. 8 and a Grand Slam semi-finalist. Fifty weeks later, he entered SW19 as the world No. 1, a Grand Slam winner and the favorite to win the men’s singles trophy.

There were plenty of positives for the 22-year-old in his Wimbledon campaign last year: he had reached the last four of a major for the first time and there was no shame in losing to a Centre Court king, and he did so in a display of great promise – despite the straight-set scoreline. But where there was promise last year, there is pressure this year.

Such are the expectations halfway through the most successful year of Sinner’s career. January brought his first slam, when he showed a steep rise with a semi-final banishment of Djokovic. If the Serb is a king of Centre Court, he is a deity Down Under, but Sinner was a non-believer that day. But a final against Daniil Medvedev required enormous reserves of faith, and Sinner plundered them to fight back from two sets down to claim the trophy.

Then came a French Open semi-final, which now shows Sinner’s consistency at this level, and he was only knocked out in the match of the tournament: a five-set thriller with fellow prodigy Carlos Alcaraz, the eventual champion. Alcaraz, incidentally, was the eventual champion at Wimbledon 12 months ago. The 21-year-old has admitted to relishing even the cruellest moments tennis can offer, so to see another man favourite for his crown? No big deal. The Spaniard will probably grin and shrug at the odds.

Alcaraz, in fact, navigated a first-round test perfectly on Centre Court on Monday before it was Sinner’s turn on No 1 Court. The Italian was paired with 32-year-old Yannick Hanfmann, the world number 45 from Germany, a man unburdened by the expectations on the other side of the net. And Hanfmann played with that freedom early on, while Sinner needed time to throw off the metaphorical shackles.

The world No. 1 tried to play positively, unscrewing his long handles for aggressive forehands, but there were early inconsistencies. When things were going well, Sinner was playing Hanfmann with groundstrokes, but the 22-year-old’s movement was questioned here as the German kept his forehands low and often drew Sinner to the net.

Sinner generally coped well with Hanfmann’s line of questioning, pacing the manicured lawn like an animated hero from a Disney film, while his reflexes and imagination were also tested at times. At one point, Sinner demonstrated both, beating a Hanfmann smash with a cushioned, volleyed winner in line.

On this surface, agile movement and improvisation can be key, so think about the boxes Sinner ticks. But regardless of the surface, consistency is also key. That’s where Sinner failed.

Still, he navigated deuces on his serve and kept grinding, while Hanfmann began to fall short on groundstrokes and struggled to beat the net. Eventually, the German was broken for 4-2 in the first set, when Sinner smashed a forehand past Hanfmann to put some daylight between them – as the sky above them grew increasingly gray.

There was a drop of rain here and there, and even a gentle breeze, but there was nothing soft about the way Sinner marked his ownership of the next game. He put Hanfmann under pressure and hit a backhand volley for a 5-2 lead. Hanfmann was stubborn enough to extend the set by a game, but that was all. For now.

Still, Hanfmann remained stubborn. Early in the second set, he lured Sinner to the net before beating him with a topspin lob. The world No. 1 applauded before he even touched the grass. But Sinner was just that, is exactly that: the world number 1. While Hanfmann remained stubborn, Sinner was not content to stay put, but wanted to move forward.

The Italian didn’t take the lead so quickly, as you would have expected after he had won the first set. But often enough his forehands were too much to handle. And so came the breaks. His serves were also often too much to handle. And so came the holds. With that came 6-3 6-4.

Yet Sinner’s early inconsistency came to the fore again, and so did Hanfmann’s freedom to hit. Sinner slipped early in the third set, and that physical misstep gave way to something bigger. Suddenly, he was 4-0 down in the third set, and he had to find another attribute: resilience. It was immediately put to use to survive a long, difficult match for 4-2, but Hanfmann was inspired and inventive as he took the set 6-3.

Then he was interrupted by the roof closing.

The German was still impressive when play resumed, but Sinner was fully charged again. The Italian leapt to that closed roof to smash home shots, slid across the grass to push volleys past Hanfmann, and a break at 2-1 was the difference.

The favorite had found some much-needed fluidity, while Hanfmann had let him down. Eventually, Sinner sealed victory with a backhand winner, driven down the line, setting up a second-round tie with fellow countryman Matteo Berrettini, a former Wimbledon finalist.

That will be an interesting test, and it may require more of Sinner than he offered on Monday.

Anyway, it is so important to peak at the right time during grand slams. Since last year, Sinner has learned how to do that. He showed that in Melbourne; now he wants to show that in London too.