By Toby Davis
LONDON (Reuters) -Jannik Sinner would have been forgiven for spending the last month licking the open wounds from his French Open final defeat by Carlos Alcaraz, but the Italian said the experience had been beautiful after kicking off his Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday.
Sinner marched into the second round at Wimbledon with a 6-4 6-3 6-0 drubbing of Luca Nardi and if he still bore the scars of his epic five-set loss to Alcaraz at Roland Garros, they were certainly not on show as he bulldozed past his fellow Italian.
When asked how tough it had been over the last month, which also included an early exit at Halle in his only grasscourt warm-up, the world number one was almost entirely positive.
“As a person, I know how important tennis is for me and for my life. I think it taught me so many things. But I also know that outside of tennis is a different life, which is more important,” he told reporters.
“For sure last month was not easy at times. But in the other way, it was beautiful, you know? So many things happened. Never thought that I would play a final of a Grand Slam like this.
“So all positive things, to be honest.
“Now I’m here. I’m here to show also myself that I’m capable of playing tennis also on grass hopefully. I showed it last year. I felt like I have improved a lot on this surface. So let’s see what I can do this year.”
Three-times Grand Slam champion Sinner, who has never got past the Wimbledon semi-finals, looked every inch a grasscourt master as he dismantled Nardi in stifling conditions on Court One.
He lost only four points on his first serve, which was functioning like clockwork against Nardi, who bravely clung on for the first two sets before capitulating completely in the third.
When it was suggested to Sinner that he had modelled his serve on John Isner, who wrote his name in Wimbledon history with his 11-hour marathon win over Nicolas Mahut in 2010, the Italian suggested there also others he was trying to emulate.
“Of course, you try to improve by watching some other servings, no? For sure he (Isner) is one of the list we try to watch,” added top seed Sinner, who will face Aleksandar Vukic in the next round.
“I feel quite comfortable at the moment. We worked a lot in this week of preparation with the serve, trying to slow a little bit the rhythm in the beginning.
“So today it felt very well, especially the first serve. He (Nardi) was struggling also to return the second serve today. But again, I’m happy about the progress. Of course, we try to keep working.”
(Reporting by Toby Davis; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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