What did Jannik Sinner have to fear more on Monday: His opponent, Yannick Hanfmann; or his own, recently injured hip? That’s what one of the BBC commentators calling their first-round match at Wimbledon wanted to know—“with all due respect to Hanfmann,” of course.
The question may have sounded rude, but it wasn’t unreasonable. The German is a tall, strong player who would hit 12 aces and 44 winners, and take a set from Sinner. But he’s also 32, ranked 86th, and was playing his final Wimbledon. Sinner’s bad hip, which forced him out of Madrid and Rome, did seem like the more treacherous and unpredictable foe today.
It turned out that Sinner, who was playing his first major as a world No. 1, would get a little bit of pushback from his hip, and a little bit more from Hanfmann. Early in the second set, while trying to cut back to his forehand side, the Italian slipped and went down with his right leg splayed out. He grabbed his hip, and briefly walked with a limp. But that might have just been a habitual or fearful reaction, because he didn’t show any, or many, signs of being hampered by it after that. Hanfmann raised his game in the second set, but Sinner raised it right back and stole away with it at the end, 6-4.
“Physically I feel good,” Sinner said. “First round is always a bit more slippery.”