No. 1 Jannik Sinner has ramped up training ahead of Wimbledon title defense

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No. 1 Jannik Sinner has ramped up training ahead of Wimbledon title defense

2026-06-28 01:42 Last Updated At：02:01

LONDON (AP) — Jannik Sinner said he's changed his physical workload after his French Open meltdown, when he felt ill and dizzy in a second-round loss.

So, he's taking it a bit easier? Wrong.

“Much longer sessions — both in the gym and on the court," he said. "We did everything together but without any breaks. … Now we’ll see how I react on the court.”

Sinner spoke Saturday — in English and Italian — at Wimbledon as he prepares to defend his singles title. He opens against Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court on Monday, when the temperature is expected to be 25 C (77 F).

With Carlos Alcaraz sidelined by a wrist injury, Sinner is the leading favorite — just like he was in Paris — to win at the grass-court major.

Following his early exit at Roland Garros, Sinner did take a week off — and did some testing.

“General tests to see health-wise how I was, to be sure that all is OK with the body, which is. All tests were really good,” he said.

And then it was back to work.

Sinner, who has struggled with heat and cramps in the past, said, “We need to practice in hotter conditions. I feel like everywhere where we play is going to be very hot. Every year is getting warmer and warmer. It is a very important topic.”

At the French Open, Sinner came within one game of concluding his second-round match in straight sets when he led 5-1 in the third. But amid a Paris heat wave, he struggled with dizziness and was beaten by Juan Manuel Cerundolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1.

There's no quick fix, he added.

“We are happy at the moment with what we are doing. The result we’re not going to see here. It’s a long process. There’s no magic behind it.

“I’m very happy with the work we did in the last two and a half weeks,” Sinner added. “Very long days. I feel well prepared.”

He spoke in Italian about the longer training sessions but added: “I don’t like to talk too much about exactly what we changed, but we changed the physical workload a bit.”

This week, Sinner said it was always his plan to not do warmup tournaments ahead of Wimbledon.

“If you play a tournament before here, maybe it’s not going the way you would like to, you come here with some doubts,” he said. "If you don’t play any tournament, you don’t have these doubts, you just go and play.

“Last year I lost second round in Halle. I came here and I played very well,” said Sinner, who beat two-time champion Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.

A perk of being a Wimbledon champion is getting an All England Club membership.

“It's a great honor for me. As I’ve always said, it’s the best tournament we have, the most prestigious, and so having this thing for my whole life is very, very nice,” Sinner said.

He reminded that he's just 24 years old so probably won't appreciate the membership until after he retires from playing.

AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf in Rome contributed.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Fast-moving fire in Utah, the largest in the US, spreads overnight, leading to more evacuations

A fast-moving wildfire in Utah raced across the landscape overnight, fed by heat and dry wind and forcing more communities to evacuate, officials said Saturday.

Air tankers and helicopters were grounded Friday as winds picked up on the Cottonwood Fire, the largest blaze currently burning in the U.S. Gusts were clocked at 45 miles per hour (72 kph) and humidity levels were in the single digits, leaving crews with few options for slowing the flames, especially as they raced through the treetops.

The U.S. Forest Service said in a statement on Facebook that weather conditions are expected to slightly improve, but not by much.

“Weather conditions are slightly better for fire behavior today, but extreme fire behavior may occur in the afternoon as temperatures and wind speeds increase,” the U.S. Forest Service said Saturday in a statement on Facebook.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, said Jaclynn Swope, a spokesperson for the response team.

The National Weather Service in March said Salt Lake City, Utah's capital, had the warmest winter on record with an average temperature of 40.7 degrees Fahrenheit (4.8 Celsius), nearly 8 degrees above normal. Many other parts of Utah had warmer-than-usual winter.

Burning in a sparsely populated area of southern Utah, the Cottonwood Fire ballooned Saturday to more than 144 square miles (373 square kilometers).

One of several large wildfires burning in Utah, it severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County and forced campground closures in Fishlake National Forest.

In the community of Marysvale, the smoke blocked out the sun Friday as ash rained down. Officials warned of unhealthy air quality there and elsewhere.

“We’re looking at a full 48 hours of critical weather that we have not seen in Utah in the last five years,” meteorologist Jason Straub told a community meeting in Beaver County Friday evening.

Elsewhere in Utah, evacuations were ordered Friday for several small communities southwest of Salt Lake City, including in Eureka, with a population under 1,000, and the Vernon Reservoir area, officials said. Highways running through the area have been closed.

Two wildfires in that area — the Iron and Cherry fires — ran together overnight, and they are about 38% contained, according to fire officials. The two fires combined are covering about 91 square miles (236 square kilometers).

The smoke pushed mostly east, meaning air quality at popular vacation spots like Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks — located far south of the flames — hasn’t been significantly affected beyond some haze in the Bryce area.

Still, the plume was visible from miles away, even as far as Colorado.

It's like nothing seen in recent memory, Utah state forester Jamie Barnes said earlier this week. She acknowledged that fires are spreading farther and faster “under conditions that defy historical expectations.”

Nationally, nearly 3 million acres have burned since the start of the year, pushing the U.S. ahead of the 10-year average.

Conditions including low humidity and strong winds have triggered red flag warnings across a wide swath stretching from California to southern Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the forecasts predicted winds of 25 to 35 miles an hour (40 kph to 56 kph), with the worst conditions expected from northern Arizona into central and southern Utah.

At Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, officials were preparing for a power outage on Saturday. The utility that serves the area had warned that it would likely initiate a safety outage in hopes of lessening the risk of wildfire in the area.

Visitors will be able to purchase park passes at entrance stations as long as backup power systems remain operational, but park officials said visitors should come prepared. That means downloading maps and other important information before arriving and ensuring that phones and other electronic devices are fully charged.

Power shut-offs have become more common in the West as wildfire risk has expanded. It's usually a last resort after utility forecasters weigh factors like sustained wind and gust speeds, available fuels and topography.

With extreme fire conditions persisting, Rocky Mountain Power has issued a public safety power shut-off watch/warning for areas of central, southern and eastern Utah through the weekend.

Tim Brown, a research professor and director of the Western Regional Climate Center, said the potential for extreme fire behavior will remain as long as it’s hot, dry and windy. He pointed to parts of the West that have been mired by persistent drought, including Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

“I would not be surprised to see a lot of restrictions come out as we get closer to the July Fourth weekend,” he said. “People really need to be aware of their surroundings if they’re going to be out in the forested campground areas and grassland areas.”

Gov. Spencer Cox set the temporary fireworks restrictions through July 5 as the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, saying “this year is different.”

While the Cottonwood Fire's cause was unknown, the governor’s order noted that humans have been the cause of most fires in the state so far this year.

Even in Florida, where there have been multiple brush fires, authorities are urging people to skip the personal fireworks and instead leave the pyrotechnics to professionals putting on carefully planned shows.