No answers on the collapse, but Sinner beats Norrie and is “very strong again” before Wimbledon

Jannik Sinner returned to the grass for the first time in a year on Wednesday, beating Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3 at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic in west London. It was his first competitive appearance in four weeks. Sinner used his only outing before defending his Wimbledon title to confirm that the medical investigations into his Roland-Garros collapse have come back clean.

The exhibition at the Hurlingham Club was played under a red extreme-heat warning, the same kind of conditions that undid Sinner in Paris a month ago. There he led Juan Manuel Cerúndolo by two sets and 5-1 before cramping and losing 18 of the final 20 games, a defeat that denied him a Career Grand Slam and sent him to specialists in Turin and Milan.

This time, in the mid-30s and without the ice bags he reached for at Roland-Garros, he came through comfortably.

I had ten days with my family and friends, and I really appreciate this moment as well. I always think everything happens for a reason.

“We did all the checks, they seem all very good, so I’m very happy,” Sinner said in an interview with SuperTennis TV. “I needed some time off after Paris. I had ten days with my family and friends, and I really appreciate this moment as well. I always think everything happens for a reason.”

The world No. 1 has skipped the entire grass-court swing, including Halle and Queen’s, and the Norrie hit-out is the sum of his match preparation. He framed the gap as a question of belief rather than rhythm. “I have had a long time of preparation now, a lot of physical training, and I feel in good shape, very strong again,” he said.

“Of course the first couple of matches are always going to be very difficult, especially on a new surface where I haven’t played for a year. I think it’s all about confidence, and hopefully I can get some confidence from last year.”

Sinner : “bigger conversations after Paris”

On the cause of the collapse itself, Sinner was less forthcoming. He confirmed that testing had taken place and that his team had reached a conclusion, but did not address the specifics – including reports that he has been training in a continuous glucose monitor as doctors examine why his energy drained so completely in Paris. Pressed on whether the breakdown was confined to a single bad day, given the volume of tennis behind him, he declined to settle on an answer.

“It’s difficult to say. We were having bigger conversations after Paris, trying to understand whether this would have happened if I had not played a couple of tournaments before. We don’t know,” he said. “If you do a couple of things wrong, on some days you pay the price. We could have managed a couple of things a little bit better, for sure.”

He kept returning to the wider balance of his season rather than the loss, and to the peculiar arithmetic of a sport that rewards almost no one. “Tennis is difficult to enjoy,” he said. “To enjoy victories – after four or five days you need to show up again, and everything starts again. Even if you have a great tournament and you lose in the semis, you come out as a loser, and there’s only one winner throughout a couple of weeks.”

That, he suggested, is why the majors carry the weight they do. “I’ve had an incredible season until now, but not winning any Grand Slams, it is a different feeling. Every time you win the biggest trophies we have in our sport, it is truly amazing.”

Sinner also reflected on the depth of Italian tennis that filled the vacuum his Paris exit helped create, where Flavio Cobolli reached the final and Matteo Arnaldi the semi-finals. “If one favourite goes out, like me in Paris, you have three or four other Italians in the draw,” he said. “We try to push each other to the limit, but it is a very healthy competition. I’m very happy when I see other Italians making incredible results, like Flavio, making finals.”

He closed on the absent men, Berrettini and the injured Lorenzo Musetti. “We all miss Lorenzo at the moment, but we are very sure he’s going to be back in very good shape. The more of us there are, the better it is.”