It’s one of the most rarefied tennis paradoxes: No tennis player wants to fall. But if it’s going to be inevitable, then like a forehand or a serve, it’s something that can be practiced — or at least studied.
On the opening day, defending champion Jannik Sinner took a couple of nasty falls during his win over Miomir Kecmanović, the second of which looked as though it might have caused a serious knee injury.
Thankfully for Sinner, he got away with it, springing upward as his legs gave way and absorbing the impact through his hip.
“It is the most normal thing. Grass court is like this. Especially the first couple of matches when the grass is very new, you slip a little bit more,” he said in a news conference.
“We did a lot of prevention before this tournament because we knew things like this could happen. So most important is to take this part away and keep moving like before, because if not, when you are very scared, everything goes too slow.”
Falling over on grass is an occupational hazard, and whether a player gets injured most often comes down to pure luck.
But having an awareness of how to mitigate the impact of falls, and developing the mentality not to be scared of falling, can be crucial to making a deep run at the slipperiest Slam.
