Jannik Sinner is certainly feeling the pressure in the first round of Wimbledon against Miomir Kecmanovic. He didn’t look to be in rhythm at all during the first set and thus, lost it by 4-6. But he came back brilliantly in the second and clinched it 6-3 to level the match. However, it was a nasty fall in the third set that led to him losing his composure once again.

The incident took place during the fifth game when Kecmanovic was serving at 15-30. As Sinner tried to return one of the shots, he slipped and fell hard on his foot. He couldn’t get up right away and appeared to be in a lot of pain. Soon, many noticed that the Italian was bleeding as the blood was visible on his shoe.

BBC Commentator, Andrew Castle expressed his concerns over Sinner’s condition. “He looks like he’s definitely going to need the trainer. We hope it’s not as bad as it looked.”

Umpire Alison Hughes quickly climbed down from her chair to check on Sinner, who took some time to get back on his feet. Though it was expected that the Italian would take a medical timeout to get treatment on his foot, he refused to call a trainer to get the injury checked and decided to keep on playing.

Former ATP pro, Tim Henman also noticed that Sinner was bleeding from his foot, but felt that his problems extended beyond the fall and pointed out where things haven’t gone right for him.

“I think the first round of any tournament is difficult,” he said on commentary. “There’s been no middle ground from Sinner today. His quality play has been excellent, but when he’s dropped off, there’s been lots of unforced errors, which is why he finds himself in a bit of a predicament here.”

The fall turned the tide on its head as Kecmanovic rallied and ended up taking the set into a tiebreaker. The Serb continued playing brilliantly in the breaker and clinched it 8-6 to win the third set 7-6 and take a valuable lead in the match.

But Sinner came roaring back in the fourth set. Despite clearly struggling with his foot, he put in a superb performance and gained a double break over Kecmanovic to gain the upper hand. He claimed the fourth set 6-2 to drag the match into a decider.

Sinner’s serve proved to be just too strong and he continued hitting lightning-fast aces in the fifth set. The Italian got the crucial break in the sixth game and never looked back. He served out the final set 6-3 to clinch the victory and survive a massive scare in the opening round.

Though many would have initially expected the World No. 1 to breeze past Kecmanovic, the Serb ended up giving quite a memorable performance and will definitely be proud about it. Even Sinner was seen applauding his opponent as he departed from the Centre Court.

After the match, Sinner gave an update about his bleeding right foot and revealed if he was concerned about it or not.

Jannik Sinner plays down injury concerns after hard-fought win at Wimbledon

“No no. I’m good,” he said during his post-match interview. “It just seems much worse than it is. I’m actually very surprised they let me keep playing because… all white, it turned into a little red.”

The 24-year-old also explained why he didn’t decide to take a medical timeout even though he was bleeding badly after the fall.

“It’s just a nail. I didn’t want to disturb Miomir. I think we both had a good rhythm. It was a great match from both of us. I didn’t want to take any time. It’s all good. Thank you,” he added.

After surviving a grueling first-round clash, Sinner will now be hoping to not play even more tiring matches in the opening few rounds. He will come up against Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the second round.

The two have only faced each other on one occasion so far. That meeting had come back in 2022 at Sofia. Sinner had completed a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 on that occasion. Will he be able to rack up his second victory over Borges, or will the underdog end up causing a monumental upset instead? All eyes on Wednesday.