There was some grumbling on the shuttle bus to the All England Club as fans with Centre Court tickets realised newly minted world No 1 Jannik Sinner was playing on Court No 1. Given his dominance in the opening two sets against American 21-year-old Ben Shelton in his 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) straight-sets win, one can understand the longing to watch the Italian in person.
To be fair to Shelton who struggled with returns in the opening two sets, he pushed as much as he could for a fourth set.
There was something of an Italian takeover of Court No 1 with Jasmine Paolini ultimately reaching the quarter-finals in a walkover against another American Madison Keys. However, the game had gone to three sets and Paolini had her many compatriots in raptures.
The Italian tennis renaissance at SW19 began in 2019 with Matteo Berrettini reaching the final. Sinner beat the Roman in the second round here and interestingly, the last two times someone has knocked out Berrettini they have gone on to win Wimbledon. Forgetting absence through injury two years ago, Novak Djokovic beat him in the 2021 final and last year Carlos Alcaraz knocked him out en route to becoming champion. With Sinner doing the honours this year, could it be his year?
From this performance the omens are strong that the 22-year-old could make this his second major having won the Australian Open in January.
Shelton, a big serving left-hander, has a relaxed demeanour and as he grew into the match forced errors from Sinner, particularly around the net. He also broke Sinner’s serve early in that third set to begin his true resistance.
Shelton pushed it to a tie-break but some of Sinner’s play was outrageous – including playing a shot between his legs. Shelton kept fighting in the tie-break, and Wimbledon being Wimbledon, where crowds can quickly fall in love with an underdog, the earlier reverence for Sinner’s efficiency turned to raucous cheers for the American to take it to a fourth set. Shelton pushed it to 9-11 and his consolation was a standing ovation from the stands.