The Times of India at Wimbledon: Jannik Sinner arrived at Wimbledon having left little to chance.After his dramatic collapse in the second round of the French Open, where he was on the verge of victory before melting down in the heat, the 24-year-old underwent a battery of tests to understand what his body was trying to tell him. He responded by training longer, in testing conditions and resisted the temptation to drown his schedule with tournaments.However, as temperatures are expected to climb above 30°C during the second week of the Championships, that episode – where Sinner appeared in total control against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 before his energy levels dropped alarmingly – reopened lingering questions.Former Davis Cupper and commentator Prahlad Srinath points to the early part of Sinner’s season, during which he claimed a historic five consecutive Masters titles between March and May.“Towards the end of his first round match in Paris, he was already looking at his box agitated. He looked physically shaken and exhausted,” said Srinath.In south-west London, where Sinner begins his title defense against Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday under pleasant skies and temperatures not expected to rise above 24°C, he should have little difficulty for the match. But match play is a different matter from practice.“In practice, you can hit 500 balls, but it’s a structured, predictable drill,” explained Srinath, now a coach. “You can anticipate and control the movement. And then if one is tired, we manage the load, the intensity and the volume. But in a match, your farm is explosive, it doesn’t matter if it is five or 500 balls. It involves maximum effort.”Sinner himself recognizes the gap between training and competition. “Of course, you can’t simulate 100% what you feel in a match. We made some changes (after Paris), I wouldn’t say big changes. I believe in the details. We are happy at the moment with what we are doing, but the result we are not going to see here. It is a long process, there is no magic”.Yash Pandey, a high performance sports physique with the Indian Davis Cup team, okay.The Italian, who has never won a match lasting more than three hours and 50 minutes and holds a record of 6-12 in five-set matches, will also be pushed to take the scenic route if he is to go deep into the tournament.“This will be a trial for him,” Pandey said, adding that despite the concerns surrounding the Italian, he remains the favourite. “He also knows that the only way he’s going to lose is because of his fitness. I don’t see anyone at the moment unless someone comes out really strong on a particular day. It can happen, but Sinner is the player to beat.”The conversation around No. 1 and its fragility does not end with Sinner. Aryna Sabalenka’s stunning collapse from a winning position in her Roland Garros quarter-final suggests that even tennis’ most physically imposing players can be operating closer to the edge than meets the eye, even when in complete control of a match. While Sinner’s problem seems physical, Sabalenka’s seems more mental.The 28-year-old revealed that after Roland Garros, she spoke again with a psychologist she had worked with before, feeling it was the right step at this stage of her season.“I feel like I need someone to bounce all my thoughts off of to clear my head a bit before a big tournament,” he said. “I have my team, we chat a lot. Sometimes you have things that you don’t want to throw to your team. It’s really important to have someone you can talk to and you can feel safe with.”