Sinner survives five-set scare to open Wimbledon title defence with comeback win

Jannik Sinner opened his Wimbledon title defence by surviving a brutal early test, edging Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 on Centre Court after 3 hours and 30 minutes of pressure, slips and recovery. The world No. 1, given the honorary opening match reserved for the defending men’s singles champion, was pushed far beyond the routine start expected of a top seed.

What made the victory so revealing was not just the scoreline, but the strain behind it. Sinner had to come back from a set down twice, steadied himself after a worrying tumble on the grass, and found enough composure to pull away in the final set. The match was played in sunny, warm conditions around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, adding another layer of physical demand to a contest that turned sharply in the middle sets.

Kecmanovic, ranked No. 50, refused to fade quietly. He took the opening set 6-4, forced a tense third-set tiebreak and kept Sinner under pressure on a Centre Court stage that usually rewards the defending champion with a more controlled start. Instead, Sinner was dragged into the kind of five-set battle that has tested him before: he had won only six of his previous 18 five-set matches before this one, a record that made the comeback feel more precarious than the rankings suggested.

The result came about a month after Sinner’s shock second-round defeat at Roland Garros, a reminder that even the most dominant names can arrive at a major carrying recent vulnerability. He recovered here, but only after a match that exposed how narrow the margins can be at the top of men’s tennis when the defending champion is forced to solve an inspired opponent over five sets. Sinner now moves on to face Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the second round, with the first-round scare already setting a sharper tone for the rest of his title defence.