Jannik Sinner’s fitness under spotlight ahead of Wimbledon title defense |: Tennis News:
India’s Season at Wimbledon. Jannik Sinner arrived at Wimbledon with little left to chance.After his dramatic collapse in the second round of the French Open, where he stood on the threshold of victory before melting in the heat, the 24-year-old went through a battery of tests to understand what his body was trying to tell him. He responded by training longer, in testing conditions and resisting the temptation to cram his schedule into tournaments.However, while the temperature is expected to rise to 30 ° C in the second week of The Championships, that stage – where the Sinner showed complete control against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 before his energy level dropped alarmingly – reopened lingering questions.Former Davis Cupper and commentator Prahlad Srinath points to the early part of Sinner’s season, during which he claimed a historic five consecutive Masters titles between March and May.“At the end of his first-round match in Paris he was looking at his box in dismay. He appeared physically shaken and tired,” said Srinath.In southwest London, where Sinner begins his title defense against Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday under a beautiful sky and temperatures not expected to rise above 24°C, he should have little trouble teeing off. However game play is a different thing from practice.“In practice you might hit 500 balls, but it’s a structured, predictable drill,” explains Srinath, now a coach. “You can anticipate and control the movement. And then when one gets tired, we manage the load, intensity and volume. But in a match, your shot making is explosive, it doesn’t matter if it’s five balls or 500 balls. It involves maximum effort.”Sinner himself recognized the gap between training and competition. “Of course you can’t simulate 100% what you feel in a match. We made some changes (after Paris), I won’t say big changes. I believe in the details. We are happy at the moment with what we are doing, but we don’t see the result here. It is a long process, there is no magic.”Yash Pandey, a high-performance sports physio with Indian Davis Cup team, agree.The Italian, who has never won a match that lasted more than three hours and 50 minutes and holds a 6-12 record in five-set matches, will nevertheless be forced to take the scenic route if he goes deep into the tournament.“It’s a process for him,” Pandey said, adding that despite the concerns surrounding the Italian, he remains the favourite. “He also knows that the only way he can lose is because of his strength. I don’t see anyone now, unless someone comes out strong on a particular day. It can happen, but the Sinner is the player to beat.”The conversation around No. 1 and their weakness does not end with the Sinner. Aryna Sabalenka’s shocking collapse from a winning position in her quarter-final at Roland Garros suggests that even the strongest tennis players can operate closer to the edge than meets the eye, even when in full control of a match. While Sinner’s issue appears to be physical, Sabalenka’s seems to be more mental.The 28-year-old revealed that, after Roland Garros, he spoke again with a psychologist he had worked with before, feeling it was the right move at this stage of his season.“I feel like I need someone to take all my thoughts out to clear my head before a big tournament,” he said. “I have a team, we chat a lot. Sometimes you have things you don’t want to throw out to your team. It’s really important to have someone to talk to and make you feel safe.”
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