Jannik Sinner smashed a career-best 31 aces at Wimbledon.
Defending a Grand Slam title is hard enough. Doing it after barely touching a grass court all season is another challenge entirely – just ask Nadal.
But if Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon opener proved anything, it’s that the world No. 1 has found a new weapon just when he needed it most.
Facing Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanović in a gruelling five-set opener, Sinner overcame a slow start, a heavy fall and even a bleeding foot to battle through 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3. The scoreline tells one story, but his serve tells another.
The Italian fired a career-high 31 aces on Centre Court, eclipsing his previous personal best and leaving Kecmanović with just a single ace across the entire match. Even more impressive was his efficiency behind the first serve, winning 89 per cent of those points. In the second set, he didn’t lose a single point behind his first delivery, finishing a flawless 16-from-16.
For a player already known for his relentless baseline game, it’s a worrying sign for the rest of the draw.
Sinner admitted afterwards that he felt tight early, understandable given it was his first official grass-court match of the season. But as the match wore on, so did his confidence. The serve became untouchable, his groundstrokes settled, and he simply outlasted Kecmanović over the final two sets.
If there were any doubts about Sinner’s Wimbledon title defence, they probably disappeared somewhere around ace number 20.
Watching Jannik Sinner also raises another question: where does a name like Sinner come from?
Despite representing Italy, Sinner grew up in South Tyrol, where German is the dominant language. His surname has medieval German roots, with origins linked to everything from inspectors and tax assessors to, fittingly, the old German word for “sinner.”
These days, though, the name means something else entirely: one of the most dangerous players in tennis. And if his serve is really this good, the rest of the Wimbledon draw has every reason to be nervous.
