Jannik Sinner played his first match since his physical collapse at Roland Garros — and his only Wimbledon warmup match — in record-breaking London heat.
Tennis365 watched from courtside as world No 1 Sinner downed Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3 at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic exhibition at the Hurlingham Club on Wednesday.
With temperatures soaring as high as 36 degrees Celsius amid a heat wave in London, the match took place on the hottest June day on record in the United Kingdom.
Just under a month ago, Sinner fell apart in the Paris heat as he lost to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round of the French Open. Sinner led 6-3, 6-2, 5-1, but he won just two more games as his body failed him in dramatic fashion.
This context brought added intrigue to Sinner’s Hurlingham outing, which was played in even hotter conditions than his Roland Garros defeat.
While exhibition contests lack the intensity of competitive matches, Sinner did not show any signs that he was struggling to cope with the extreme weather during an hour and 15 minutes on court.
In a match that featured few extended rallies on a fast and pristine grass court, Sinner looked sharp from the very start as he broke Norrie in the opening game.
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A standout moment came when Sinner had a set point with Norrie serving at 3-5, 40-AD in the first set.
Sinner noticeably made an extra push to close out the set as he demonstrated his explosive movement with a stunning, sliding open-stance backhand that turned the point around.
In the second set, Sinner broke Norrie two more times, and he saved the only break point he faced in the match at 4-2 with a clinical first serve and forehand combination.
Norrie struggled to deal with the relentless depth and ball speed of Sinner, with the Brit firing forehands long of the baseline on a number of occasions.
Speaking in his on-court interview after making his debut at Hurlingham, Sinner said: “It’s great to play at this beautiful club.
“These exhibition matches are good because they allow us to try out a couple of things, and hopefully, we’ll be in the best possible shape for next week at Wimbledon.
“I’ve been on grass for nearly a week now and every day counts, so it’s very important to get used to the conditions. We still have some important practice sessions coming up, but hopefully, we’ll be as ready as we can be.”
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The post Watching Jannik Sinner’s Wimbledon warmup match on UK’s hottest day ever – here’s what happened appeared first on Tennis365.
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