There are worse things than arriving at Wimbledon as the holder of three Grand Slam singles titles, safe in the knowledge that your world No.1 status is secure no matter what the outcome over the coming Fortnight.

So from that perspective, Jannik Sinner’s first public utterance on his arrival at The Championships 2025 – “I am very happy” – made perfect sense.

It’s just that… if anyone were drawing up a blueprint of the textbook preparation for the travails ahead, that material would be unlikely to include parting with two key members of your support team just three days before battle commences.

Yet this is exactly where the Italian finds himself, with fitness trainer Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio no longer among his crew as of Friday, just nine months after coming on board.

Cue instant expressions of intrigue among the tennis cognoscenti. Even Novak Djokovic, who has worked with both “phenomenal professionals” Panichi and Badio, felt able to declare himself “surprised”. Sinner himself, on the other hand, is sanguine about the move.

“Nothing major happened, nothing big,” he said, unruffled. “Nothing crazy happened. It’s not affecting me. I feel ready to compete. I feel free. We reached some incredible goals with them [including this year’s Australian Open crown] so obviously huge thanks to them, but I decided to do something different after Halle.”

That would be Halle last week, where – as defending champion – Sinner notched up one win before his worst defeat by ranking since 2023, to world No.45 Alexander Bublik (who went on to win the tournament). It was not the most soothing balm to follow Sinner’s painful reverse from triple Championship point against Carlos Alcaraz in the Roland-Garros final earlier in June.

This year, the Italian had already spent time off the court, serving a three-month ban following a March 2024 positive test for a banned substance, although he was cleared of any deliberate intention to breach anti-doping rules.

Returning in Rome last month, he also lost to Alcaraz in that final, suffering his first straight sets defeat in 18 months and 94 matches. Unbowed, Sinner is declaring optimism.

“I feel ready to play,” he said. “What happened in the past is in the past already. Especially mentally, I feel in a very good spot. I feel like that I’m playing great, great tennis on grass. I’m just looking forward to go on court and to compete and enjoy it.”

His bid to become the first Italian player, male or female, to capture a singles titles here is strewn with fearsome hurdles.

He will want a solid display in his opener against countryman Luca Nardi, given he could meet Denis Shapovalov in the third round, Grigor Dimitrov or Tommy Paul in the fourth, Lorenzo Musetti in the quarters, Djokovic in the last four, before a final against… oooh, can you guess?

Clue: it’s the Spaniard responsible for five of the nine defeats, against 92 wins, which Sinner has experienced since the beginning of 2024. (Impress your pub quiz friends by naming the other four winners against him as Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and the aforementioned Bublik.)

In short, it’s a tough prospect here.

Sinner makes no bones that adapting to the necessary demands of movement on grass remains challenging for him, and for now his semi-final two years ago is his best Wimbledon to date. But his declared mindset is positive.

“I had some time off before coming here,” he said. “I feel ready to compete again. I’m here to play good tennis.”