Jannik Sinner survived a major first-round scare at Wimbledon on Monday, coming from behind to defeat world No. 50 Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3. However, the world No. 1 and defending champion faced harsh criticism from BBC commentator Andrew Castle, who described Sinner's forehand as 'traumatic' during the live broadcast.
Castle's Criticism During the Match
With the score at 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 and 30-30 on Kecmanovic's serve, Sinner shanked a forehand long and wide on a second serve. Castle remarked: 'This forehand has become traumatic for him. It's just a really poor miss for any tennis player, let alone the world No. 1 and defending champion. At two sets to one, you're 30-30 on your opponent's serve, looking for a break point on a second serve, that's a routine one.'
After Sinner took the fourth set 6-2, Castle added: 'This has been strewn with errors as well as brilliance.'
Sinner's Self-Assessment
Sinner himself acknowledged his subpar performance in his post-match interview. 'I felt the first couple of sets also a lot of mistakes from the forehand side. It's normal, you know, first round matches are never easy,' he said. 'So I'll try to accept that, try to raise my level when I definitely needed to. Third set, as I said, was very tough, very very great point from his side. But this is tennis, so every day is different. And very happy to be in the next round.'
Injury Scare and Recovery
Sinner also caused concern when he lost his footing and did the splits, leaving blood visible through his shoes. He insisted he was fine, saying: 'No, no. I'm all good, it just seems much worse than it is. No, no. I'm actually very surprised they let me keep playing because you know all-white, it turned into a little red. It was just, you know, a nail. I didn't want to also disturb Miomir, I think we both had you know a good rhythm. It was a great match from both of us so I didn't want to take any time. It's all good.'
Historical Context
Sinner nearly became the first defending champion to lose in the first round at Wimbledon since Lleyton Hewitt fell to Ivo Karlovic in 2003. With long-time rival Carlos Alcaraz absent due to injury, Sinner is the heavy favourite to retain his title at SW19.
