Smoothly done in the sun. In the vicious afternoon heat of Jannik Sinner’s No.1 Court, hundreds of spectators were constantly fanning themselves – as they might on a hot night at Milan’s La Scala opera house – which created an unusual, almost mesmerising, visual effect around the grass.

This was as hot and as humid as the Italian redhead could ever remember it at the All England Club. Beneath his white baseball cap, his face was turning the colour of his hair.

But nothing was going to disturb the world No.1 during his opening appearance of The Championships, with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 victory over countryman Luca Nardi that was completed in under two hours and felt like a reset after the setbacks and changes of recent weeks.

Less than a month ago, Sinner led Carlos Alcaraz by two sets to love in the Roland-Garros final, and had three championship points, but couldn’t close it out.

His preparations for Wimbledon didn’t go as well as expected, as he lost early at a grass court tournament in Halle in Germany with a defeat to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik. That was the first time in almost a year that he had lost to anyone apart from Alcaraz.

In the days before Wimbledon, Sinner decided to refresh his team and stopped working with his trainer Marco Panichi and his physiotherapist Ulises Badio.

Maybe others would have found it difficult to have processed the events of the last few weeks, particularly the Paris final, as that’s the kind of match that could play on your mind for months, if not years. But, as Sinner told the crowd, he views Wimbledon as “a new tournament with new chances and a new challenge”.

“You have one opponent at a time so obviously I try to keep going and enjoy playing here,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “If you don't enjoy playing on this court, I don't know where you will enjoy. Very happy to be here and let's see what is coming.”

If Sinner’s performance was an illustration of his strength of character – which goes some way to explaining how he has already won three Grand Slam titles, including this season’s Australian Open – it was also a day when he demonstrated his ability to hit the ball with astonishing power and precision. Sinner had been working on his serve before The Championships, and that showed in this match.

Playing against another Italian was “very unfortunate”, Sinner said of a match against Nardi, who is the ninth best player in Italy and the world No.95. Nardi has beaten someone in the tennis elite before – he defeated Novak Djokovic in Indian Wells last season when the Serb was at the top of the rankings. But on this day, and with Sinner in this kind of mood, Nardi couldn’t stay with him. There aren’t many who could have coped with Sinner’s aggression and poise.

In different ways, the Italian men have been lighting up Wimbledon over the first couple of days.

On Monday, Fabio Fognini took Alcaraz to five sets in the opening round. Here, Sinner gave every indication that he has moved on from Paris and has come to London determined to become the first Italian to lift Wimbledon’s pineapple-topped cup.