Jannik Sinner's Grass Campaign Starts With Surprising Loss In 2025 Doubles Debut

Jannik Sinner played his first grass-court match of the 2025 season, but it was a losing effort for the Italian player.

Sinner took some time away from the tennis courts after losing in the Roland Garros final to Carlos Alcaraz. While his final opponent enjoyed a short vacation in Ibiza, the Italian player stayed at home with his family, recharging batteries that way.

They both returned to action two weeks before the start of the Wimbledon Championships. Alcaraz chose to compete at the Queen's Club Championships, while Sinner chose the Halle Open as his comeback event.

Sinner has played in Halle before. In fact, he is the defending champion after winning the title last year. It was also his first tournament as the World No. 1 player, and 52 weeks later, he returned as the World No. 1 again.

Unlike last year, Sinner's first match in Halle wasn't on the singles court. Tennis players often choose to play doubles when switching surfaces to accustom themselves to the new surface faster. That's something the Italian did last year, teaming up with Hubert Hurkacz in doubles in Halle.

The duo won their first match against Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow, but they then lost to Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul. This year, Sinner signed up for doubles again, teaming up with compatriot Lorenzo Sonego.

The World No. 1 player often plays with Sonego, but they have played significantly fewer events recently. The Halle Open was Sinner's first showing on the doubles court in 2025, and it didn't go well, despite a solid start.

The Italian duo took on fellow singles players Karen Khachanov and Alex Michelsen. Both have played on grass already the previous week, with Michelsen even reaching the doubles final in Stuttgart.

That experience seemed to be quite valuable early on in this match as Khachanov and Michelsen had break points on both Sinner's and Sonego's opening service games. While they didn't use their first chance, they used the second one, leading 2-1 after three games.

But from that point, Sinner and Sonego went on to win five consecutive games, stealing the first set from their opponents. The Italian duo won the first set easily, 6-2. They continued their game-winning streak also in the second set, leading 3-0 after the first three games.

Even a 6-2 and 3-0 lead eventually wasn't enough for Sinner and Sonego to win this match, as they went on to lose three consecutive games twice in the second set. First, their opponents made it to 3-3 from 0-3 down, and later, Khachanov and Michelsen secured the second set after winning 12 out of 13 rallies from 4-5 down, winning the set 7-5.

In the super tie-break, which decides the winner instead of the third set at Tour-level doubles events, Sinner and Sonego ran out of steam. The Italian duo lost the super tie-break 3-10, exiting the doubles competition in the opening round.

In singles, Sinner will start against qualifier Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the tournament. Sonego will also take on a home player. His opponent will be Jan-Lennard Struff. Michelsen will meet with Francisco Cerundolo, and Khachanov will be challenged by Zizou Bergs.