The return of Italian Jannik Sinner (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Times Of India at Wimbledon: Jannik Sinner arrived at Wimbledon leaving little to chance.After his dramatic collapse in the second round of the French Open, where he stood on the cusp of victory before melting in the heat, the 24-year-old underwent a series of tests to understand what his body was trying to tell him.
He responded by training longer, in testing conditions and resisting the temptation to crowd his schedule with tournaments.However, with temperatures expected to rise to more than 30 degrees Celsius during the second week of the tournament, that incident – where Sinner appeared in complete control of Juan Manuel Cerendolo, leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 before his energy levels dropped worryingly – has reopened lingering questions.
Davis Cooper and former commentator Prahlad Srinath point to the early part of Sinner’s season, during which he captured a historic five straight Masters titles between March and May.“Towards the end of his first-round match in Paris, he was already looking at the penalty area in a state of emotion. He looked shaken and physically exhausted,” Srinath said.In southwest London, where Sinner begins his title defense against Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday under pleasant skies and temperatures not expected to exceed 24 degrees Celsius, he will have little difficulty getting going.
However, playing games is different from practicing.“In practice, you might hit 500 balls, but it’s structured and predictable training,” explained Srinath, who now works as a coach. “You can anticipate and control the movement. And then if the player is tired, we control the load, the intensity and the volume. But in a match, your shooting is explosive, regardless of whether it’s five balls or 500 balls. It requires maximum effort.”Sinner himself acknowledged the gap between training and competition.
“Of course you can’t simulate 100% what you feel in the match. We made some changes (after Paris), I wouldn’t say big changes. I believe in the details. At the moment we are happy with what we are doing, but the result will not be seen here. It is a long process, and there is no magic.”Yash Pandey, high-performance sports physiotherapist with the Indian Davis Cup team, agrees.However, the Italian, who has never won a match longer than three hours and 50 minutes and holds a record of 6-12 in five sets, will have to take the scenic route if he is to advance in the tournament.“This will be a process for him,” Bande said, adding that despite the concerns surrounding the Italian, he remains the favourite. “He also knows that the only way he’s going to lose is because of his fitness. I don’t see anyone else at the moment, unless someone really strong comes out on a certain day. It can happen, but Sinner is the player to beat.”The conversation about numbers 1 and their fragility does not end with Sinner.
Aryna Sabalenka’s stunning collapse from victory in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros suggests that even the most physically imposing tennis players may operate closer to the edge than they appear, even when they are in complete control of the match. While Siner’s problem appears to be physical, Sabalenka’s problem appears to be more mental.The 28-year-old player revealed that, after Roland Garros, she spoke again with a psychiatrist she had previously worked with, and she felt that this was the right step at this stage of her season.“I feel like I need someone to take away all my thoughts and clear my head a little bit before a big tournament,” she said. “I have my team, and we talk a lot. Sometimes you have things that you don’t want to throw at your team. It’s really important to have someone that you can talk to and that you can feel safe with.”