Jannik Sinner starts his Wimbledon title defence against Miomir Kecmanovic two days after saying his post-French Open health tests were “very good”. The world number one goes into Wimbledon with the memory of a second-round collapse at the French Open still fresh, and the first match in his title defence now carries the burden of whether that episode was a one-off or a warning.
Wimbledon and Kecmanovic
Sinner won Wimbledon for the first time in 2025, beating Carlos Alcaraz, and now opens against Kecmanovic at the All England Club. That is the sharpest test of the title defence: the draw has put a player who finished last year with a major breakthrough straight back into a match that can show whether his level has held.
The timing matters because he spoke on Saturday, only two days before that opener, and said the health checks he had after the French Open came back “very good”. He also said, “You cannot simulate 100% what you feel in a match because of tension [and] everything going around before and after the match.”
French Open collapse
One month ago, Sinner left the French Open in the second round after leading Juan Manuel Cerundolo by two sets and 5-1 in the third. That collapse ended a 30-match winning streak and cut across a run that had made him look untouchable for long stretches between March and May, when he won five consecutive Masters 1000 titles on hard and clay courts.
He said there would not be an instant solution to avoiding a repeat, adding, “We did some changes, not big changes. But I always believe in small details and small changes.” He followed that with, “We are happy at the moment with what we are doing. The result, we're not going to see here. It's a long process. There's no magic behind [it].”
Ice vest at Wimbledon
The picture at Wimbledon has already been different from Paris. Sinner was seen training in hot temperatures wearing an ice vest, a simple visual cue that his build-up has focused on managing conditions as much as shot-making. He did not believe the stifling Paris heat that day was to blame for the French Open loss, which leaves his title defence tied to execution rather than excuses.
He had won five straight Masters 1000 titles before Paris, and he joined Novak Djokovic as only the second man to complete the Career Golden Masters. That makes the opening round against Kecmanovic more than a routine start: it is the first chance to see whether the defending champion’s latest adjustments hold up once a match starts to swing under pressure.
