Sinner admits Wimbledon “tension” as he faces disruptor Mochizuki in last 16
The defending champion, still searching for his best after a shock French Open exit, meets a qualifier ranked 151st who intends to unsettle him rather than out-power him. “Just by hitting tennis balls, I don’t think I can beat him at all,” Mochizuki said.
Jannik Sinner, Wimbledon 2026 | © SPP / PsNewz
“Even in training, there’s a lot of tension, in every aspect.” That was Jannik Sinner’s verdict on his own Wimbledon title defence after reaching the second week, two days ago.
Asked, in Italian, to rate his satisfaction with his first week, Sinner replied that he was trying to raise his level day by day but that “even in training there’s a lot of tension, in every aspect” – anche in allenamento c’è tanta tensione in tutti gli aspetti – before adding that the day had been “a small step forward.” It was the language of a champion still some way from playing with the freedom and efficiency he wants.
This admission frames his fourth-round meeting with Shintaro Mochizuki: a champion wrestling with his standards against a qualifier who has already conceded he cannot out-hit him, and does not intend to try.
Sinner, the defending champion, came through 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 against Jenson Brooksby, a cleaner performance than the five-set opener against Kecmanovic and back-to-back tiebreaks that preceded it. Yet he refused to sound satisfied. “I still have some gap to gain,” he said, framing the win as another increment rather than a statement, and pointing to a level he insists is not yet there.
Sinner’s unusual build-up
That self-criticism is grounded in an unusual build-up. Sinner arrived at the All England Club without a single grass-court match (apart from an exhibition appearance against Cameron Norrie) having chosen out-of-competition training after his shock second-round exit at Roland-Garros, where he was beaten from two sets and a break up by world No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerúndolo.
The tournament itself has become his preparation, and he has spoken this week of the discipline of building slowly. “You don’t win a tournament in the first week, but you can only lose it,” he said. Can he lose it against Mochizuki? It would be an earthquake.
His opponent has spent the fortnight demolishing that logic. Mochizuki, a Japanese qualifier ranked 151st and without a tour-level win all season before this run, upset 23rd seed Rafael Jódar to reach the last 16 at a major for the first time.
Just by hitting tennis balls, I don’t think I can beat him at all.
He was disarmingly honest about the task against the champion, and refused to pretend it was a contest of equals. “I’m sure he’s gonna play very quick and he’s gonna try to destroy me,” Mochizuki, a former junior Wimbledon champion, said. “Just by hitting tennis balls, I don’t think I can beat him at all.”
His answer is not power but disruption. Mochizuki plays a throwback game – flat, low, forward – that he believes can unsettle opponents raised on pace. “I want to do something else to make him uncomfortable,” he said. “Hitting balls low, coming into the net. I don’t think he’s used to playing against these kinds of players.” One would mention that Grigor Dimitrov was leading two sets to love with this approach in 2025. Sinner made clear he was aware of that.
Mochizuki, with nothing to lose and a game built to irritate, is precisely the kind of unorthodox problem a tense favourite least wants to solve – and precisely the kind the second week of a Grand Slam tends to serve up. If the previous matches are long – Djokovic – Safiullin and Sabalenka – Osaka – the roof factor will be an extra.
