Jannik Sinner survived a five-set scare against Miomir Kecmanović in his Wimbledon opener, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 in three hours and thirty minutes. The manner of the struggle left former American ATP pro Andy Roddick stunned enough to flag something he had genuinely never considered as a threat to Sinner’s game. Speaking on the Served Podcast, Roddick broke down a performance that was far scrappier than the scoreline alone would suggest.

“We did a breakdown, kind of in-match one. A career high in aces for Jannik, he had 31,” Roddick said, before pivoting to the other side of the ledger. “Fifty-one errors. He was missing a lot, and his misses weren’t by three inches. They were by like four or five feet. We did a breakdown, and I was stunned.” 

What stunned him further was how the Serbian, who has advanced to the third round of Wimbledon in 2022, 2024 and 2025, found his route into the match. Roddick respects the player but he did not expect to trouble Sinner in this manner. “He [Kecmanovic] can play on grass. Short take backs, can accept pace pretty well, but he was beating Jannik kind of just playing through the middle, which is normally a recipe for disaster,” Roddick stated.

Sinner committed 52 unforced errors across the match, with the early signs of trouble visible from the first set. Kecmanovic broke from 40-0 down in the ninth game to take the opening set, and the match stayed a genuine contest deep into the third, which Kecmanovic won via an 8-6 tie-break.

The former world No.1’s larger point was that playing through the middle of the court, conventionally the least threatening way to attack any elite player, was working specifically because Sinner was missing more than usual. “It was working because there was some relief. Jannik was missing some today. He had 14 errors in the first set. If you carry that, you have four and three and a half games of errors just there,” the American added.

This was the first match Sinner played after his shock second-round exit at Roland Garros, a tournament he had entered with a 30-match winning streak. This meant, he did not have a single match practice on grass before entering Wimbledon. 

Andy Roddick framed the rust as close to unavoidable. “Grass, you play in it for a month and then you don’t play on it for 12 months. It’s not something you practice on, it’s not something you train on.” 

The Italian also suffered from a nail problem, which led to a bloodied shoe during the match, and then had a terrible fall in the third set. The world No. 1 overcame all of the physical concerns and got a gritty win to kick-start his title defense. Although he confirmed during the post-match interaction that the injury was not concerning at all, it did initially scare his fans, who feared the worst outcome.

Jannik Sinner will now face Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the second round, with a career-best ace tally and some eyebrows raised on his first-round performance.