Jannik Sinner sets aside the burdens of being the world No1 and pre-tournament favourite to focus on more pressing matters. It has been a long afternoon of media duties at Wimbledon, so long that the first half of Italy’s round-of-16 tie against Switzerland is just about to start. Sinner smiles sheepishly as he loads a live stream of the match on his phone but, almost as soon as it appears, the coverage cuts to a clip from his press conference. “Ah, here I am. Even when I watch football…” he says a little despairingly before breaking off into laughter.
After an interminable wait for suitable heirs to the “big three”, the new era of tennis — and possibly its generational rivalry — has finally arrived.
