Jannik Sinner dispels any doubts: smiles and a heartwarming message after his victory over Norrie
Jannik Sinner made an encouraging return to the court, dispatching Britain’s Cameron Norrie in two sets on the grass at London’s Hurlingham Club in an exhibition match at the Armani Tennis Classic, a warm-up event for Wimbledon.
The world No. 1, who is the defending champion of the season’s third Grand Slam, won 6-3, 6-3, feeling good on the court and dispelling skeptics’ doubts about his physical condition following his defeat at Roland Garros. The match was played in sweltering heat—unusual for a June day in London—but the Italian wasn’t particularly affected by it, even though the pace was slow.
After the match, the South Tyrolean had this to say: “I’d like to thank everyone in attendance; it was a wonderful experience for me—my first at this exhibition tournament. It helped me get into the right shape ahead of next week. I’ve been training on grass for almost a week now, and this was a valuable opportunity in preparation for the upcoming official matches. Wimbledon holds wonderful memories for me, but this is a different year and it will be a different tournament. As I’ve said before, for me, it’s the most special tournament there is.”
Sinner will make his debut on Monday at 2 p.m. on Center Court: he is the top favorite to win the title. Just today, qualifying at the All England Club was temporarily suspended due to malfunctions in the electronic call system, with technicians working for over an hour to resolve the issue. The outage further highlighted the severe heat wave currently sweeping through the English capital, with temperatures peaking at 35 degrees Celsius. There is some good news, however, from the weather forecast: according to experts, temperatures are expected to return to levels closer to the seasonal average starting on June 29, the opening day of the Wimbledon main draw.
