John McEnroe believes Jannik Sinner is ‘absolutely’ the favourite to win Wimbledon again this year after the defending champion booked his place in the third round.
Sinner overcame Carlos Alcaraz in an enthralling four-set contest last year to win the Wimbledon title for the first time in his career.
But the Italian arrived back at the All England Club this week with questions hanging over his title defence following his shock second-round exit in May’s French Open.
Sinner has played just once since his defeat at Roland Garros – an exhibition match against Cameron Norrie – and the 24-year-old certainly showed signs of rustiness in his first match against Miomir Kecmanovic.
Kecmanovic went ahead two sets to one in that encounter, but Sinner fought back to grind out a five-set victory over the Serbian.
The defending champion looked far more comfortable in the second round, winning in straight sets over Nuno Borges on Centre Court, and will now face America’s Jenson Brooksby in the third round.
And former Wimbledon champion McEnroe believes that Sinner’s win over Borges is proof the Italian is already getting back to his best.
‘It was a great test for him,’ McEnroe said. ‘He played a guy playing as good as he could play, throwing a lot at him and made him come up with the goods in some tense moments.
‘Sinner has got to be feeling good about that to get through in straight sets. But that’s just what the doctor ordered: it was highly competitive and his level lifted so it’s good signs for Jannik Sinner.’
Asked if the Italian is the favourite to win again, McEnroe quickly responded: ‘Oh yeah, absolutely, no question about that.
‘There is a little dent in the armour which you saw in France. There’s always that risk when you don’t play any matches (on grass before the tournament).
‘You’re a little bit unsure the first couple of rounds but he’s going to go into Friday feeling a lot better than he did two sets to one down on Monday as the defending champion.’
Asked about his opening two matches of the tournament, Sinner said on Wednesday: ‘For sure for the first match on grass, having a tough opener,
then getting through, it was good, was important.
‘Today I managed the first couple of sets very well in tricky moments. I know that I can, or hopefully I can play a little bit better at times I know.
‘Hopefully that comes match by match, then we see.’
Among those hoping to deny Sinner a second Wimbledon crown is seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, who booked his spot in the third round with an emphatic straight-sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic, who turned 39 in May, is bidding to equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles and will now face France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the next round.
Analysing Djokovic’s performance on BBC One, former world number 11 Sam Querrey said: ‘That’s the best Novak Djokovic has played since the Australian Open this year. That was an almost flawless performance.
‘If he can sustain that level for five more matches, there is no reason to think he doesn’t have a good shot at the Wimbledon title this year.’
Elsewhere, second-seed Alexander Zverev will look to follow up his French Open triumph with a deep run at Wimbledon, although the German has yet to get past the fourth round before at SW19.
America’s Ben Shelton is the only top-ten seed already out of the tournament after he lost to wildcard Otto Virtanen in five sets in the first round.
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