Sinner and Sabalenka answer doubters on Wimbledon Day one
Key takeaways
- Naomi Osaka impresses with her outfit and performance, while British hopes are dashed on first day of championship.
- Sabalenka, who left Paris in a “deep, dark place” after losing the last 10 games of her quarterfinal against Diana Shnaider, followed Sinner onto Centre Court and breezed past Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic 6-2, 6-3.
- While world number one Sinner, the overwhelming favourite in the absence of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, lived to fight another day, there were some early seeded casualties.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Naomi Osaka impresses with her outfit and performance, while British hopes are dashed on first day of championship.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Italy's Jannik Sinner celebrates after beating Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic in a men's singles first-round match on day one of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, southwest London [Glyn Kirk/AFP]By Reuters Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026Men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka both arrived at Wimbledon with question marks hanging over them but answered the doubters with contrasting first-round victories.
Italy’s Sinner – playing his first match since his shock collapse and defeat in the second round of the French Open on a scorching day in Paris – was stretched to the limit by Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic but survived, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3 on Monday.