By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Wimbledon—Studying a marathon man helped Jannik Sinner sprint through his Wimbledon opener.
In an all-Italian clash, Sinner shredded Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 to roll into round two.
Afterward, Sinner said he’s been studying the serve motion of John Isner, who beat Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history, an 11 hour, 5-minute epic on No. 18 Court at the 2010 Wimbledon.
Channeling his inner Isner, Sinner won 34 of 38 first-serve points, did not face a break point and permitted just 12 points total on serve.
The world No. 1 said he’s been working on serve rhythm. Watching tapes of Isner, Sinner’s tried to emulate the slower start of the motion into the acceleration of explosion.
“Well, I wish I had John’s serve. We try to improve,” Sinner said. “I think that every player has his own serve. Of course, you try to improve by watching some other servings, no? For sure he’s one of the list we try to watch.
“But yeah, I feel quite comfortable at the moment. We worked a lot in this week of preparation with the serve, trying to slow a little bit the rhythm in the beginning. Yeah, so today it felt very well, especially the first serve. He was struggling also to return the second serve today. But again, I’m happy about the progress. Of course, we try to keep working.”
Efficiency holding—and playing quick matches—should serve Sinner well moving forward.
Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz was pushed to five sets by Fabio Fognini in his opener yesterday.
In the opening two days of play, three Top 10 seeds—third-seeded Alexander Zverev, eighth-seeded Holger Rune and ninth-seeded Daniil Medvedev—all lost.
The top seed summed up this first-round win with two words: “All good.”
“I’m here to show also myself that I’m capable to play tennis also on grass hopefully,” Sinner said. “I showed it last year. I felt like that I have improved a lot on this surface. So let’s see what I can do this year.
“The preparation has gone really well. So I feel good mentally and physically. Tennis, I feel like that at times I can play some good tennis, so let’s see what’s coming.”
