Jannik Sinner Optimistic About Wimbledon Defense After First Match in London Heatwave: “That’s Exactly What I Need”

Many from the tennis world are now convinced that Jannik Sinner‘s biggest enemy is his own body, which suffers a great deal when he competes in sweltering conditions. While playing at the French Open under extreme heat, he succumbed to severe full-body cramps.

And even though he was just a game away from winning his second-round match, he ended up losing games one after the other, and before anyone could grasp what they were witnessing, the World No.1 lost the match in five sets to Juan Manuel Cerundolo. Last year at the Shanghai Masters, he suffered from cramps in high humidity, which forced him to hand the walkover to Tallon Griekspoor.

Sinner has already started his preparation for Wimbledon. He chose not to sign up for any warm-up events before Wimbledon and instead competed at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic exhibition event at the Hurlingham Club.

After defeating Tommy Paul in straight sets in scorching heat with the temperature hovering around 36 degrees Celsius, Sinner said practicing in boiling hot conditions is what he needs the most.

Today, was no wind at all, so it was maybe even warmer, but it’s good. That’s exactly what I need, a good preparation before starting the tournament. In future, we will always try to practice where the warmer conditions could be, because I feel like every tournament is getting warmer and warmer every year, so it’s going to be important, but we did a lot of work, and today was a good preparation.

Jannik Sinner told reporters

Sinner will not only be aiming to defend his title at SW19 but also to win his sixth title of the season. Before his French Open exit, the four-time Grand Slam champion lifted the first five Masters 1000s of the season (in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome).

Jannik Sinner on whether he would trade his first five Masters for winning one of the Majors

Jannik Sinner is the first man in history to win the first five Masters 1000s of the season. His victory in his home Masters 1000 has made him just the second man, after Novak Djokovic, to complete the Career Golden Masters.

At the press conference after the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic exhibition, the 24-year-old was asked whether he would trade the first five Masters for one of the first two Grand Slams.

If, if doesn’t…(smiles). I don’t know. I don’t know. I cannot answer this (laughs), but good question, okay… (laughs).

Jannik Sinner told Tennis365

At the Australian Open, Sinner’s campaign ended in the semifinals with a five-set defeat to Djokovic, who later lost the final to Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner was competing in Melbourne as the two-time defending champion. Alcaraz did not compete in Paris. In his absence, Sinner’s early defeat saw Alexander Zverev finally clinch his career’s first Grand Slam title.

He defeated Flavio Cobolli, becoming the first German man since Boris Becker (1996 Australian Open) to win a Major singles. Sascha also ended the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly in Majors because, prior to this French Open, the World No.1 or the World No.2 took home these titles since the 2024 season.

The main draw of Wimbledon starts on June 29. Alcaraz, because of his wrist injury, will also be skipping the grass-court Major. Last year in the final, Alcaraz lost in four sets to the 24-year-old. The Spaniard was chasing his third back-to-back title in the grass-court Major. Sinner has so far won two titles on grass: last year’s Wimbledon and the 2024 Halle Open (by defeating Hubert Hurkacz).

Also read: Jannik Sinner Declares Clean Bill of Health Ahead of High-Stakes Wimbledon Title Defense