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BBC tennis commentator Andrew Castle tore into Jannik Sinner's "traumatic" forehand after the world No. 1 was almost knocked out of Wimbledon at the first hurdle. With long-term rival Carlos Alcaraz absent with injury, Sinner is the heavy favourite to win at SW19.
However, he nearly became the first defending champion to be knocked out of the Grand Slam in the first round since Lleyton Hewitt lost to Ivo Karlovic in 2003. Sinner fell behind on sets twice against World No. 50 Miomir Kecmanovic, but won 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3. The 24-year-old looked uncharacteristically nervous and tight, which resulted in him hitting unforced errors, particularly on his forehand. This was certainly noticed by Castle, who tore into last year's Wimbledon winner.
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At 30-30 on Kecmanovic’s serve, with the score 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 1-0, Sinner shanked a forehand long and wide on his opponent’s second serve. After the ball sailed harmlessly out of the court, Castle said, live on the BBC: “This forehand has become traumatic for him.
"It’s just a really poor miss for any tennis player, let alone the world No. 1 and defending champion. At two sets to one, you’re 30-30 on your opponent’s serve, looking for a break point on a second serve, that’s a routine one."
When Sinner took the crucial fourth set 6-2, Castle had another dig at the Italian, saying: “This has been strewn with errors as well as brilliance.”
If anybody was to agree with Castle completely, it would be the world No. 1 himself. In his post-match interview, he admitted he was far from his best against the Serbian.
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He said: "I felt the first couple of sets also a lot of mistakes from the forehand side. It's normal, you know, first round matches are never easy.
"So I'll try to accept that, try to raise my level when I definitely needed to. Third set, as I said, was very tough, very very great point from his side. But this is tennis, so every day is different. And very happy to be in the next round."
Sinner left many fans worried when he lost his footing and did the splits during the match, which left him with blood visibly seeping through the material in his shoes. When asked about the injury, he insisted he was fine, saying: "No, no. I'm all good, it just seems much worse than it is.
"No, no. I'm actually very surprised they let me keep playing because you know all-white, it turned into a little red. It was just, you know, a nail. I didn't want to also disturb Miomir, I think we both had you know a good rhythm. It was a great match from both of us so I didn't want to take any time. It's all good."