Wimbledon introduce new rule that Jannik Sinner will benefit from

Wimbledon will introduce a new rule for this year's tournament that will benefit defending champion Jannik Sinner.

Sinner won Wimbledon for the first time in 2025, defeating Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

The Italian won five consecutive ATP 1000 finals between November and May of this year, and headed into Roland Garros last month as the heavy favourite to win the French Open.

Sinner served for the match at 5-1 ahead during his second-round clash against Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo, having won the first two sets comfortably.

But he then complained of dizziness and nausea, and ultimately lost the match after only winning two more games.

Sinner subsequently stated that he felt 'very low on energy', and confirmed that he would be taking some time off after the tournament.

Concerns have developed surrounding Sinner's ability to play in hot conditions and, had Wimbledon been played this week in the middle of the UK's latest heatwave, the Italian might have been feeling the heat quite considerably.

As it stands, he will take on Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic in his first round match on Centre Court on Monday, when conditions are expected to cool.

New Wimbledon rule introduced as statement issued

But Wimbledon organisers have pre-empted the possibility of more hot weather by introducing a new heat rule for the entire tournament.

Players can request a 10-minute heat break between either the second and third set in best-of-three set matches, or the third and fourth set in best-of-five set matches, when the heat stress index - a calculation of how hot the weather feels to the human body - equals or exceeds 30.1 degrees Celsius.

It applies to all singles tournaments that will be contested at Wimbledon, including the boys, girls and wheelchair events.

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The rule will only be used for matches where the roof is not in use, and excludes both doubles matches and games which are suspended overnight before resuming - but only if they have played one set already in a best-of-three, or two sets of a best-of-five.

Organisers will take a heat reading at a period of 30 minutes before the opening match of each day, as well as at 2pm and 5pm.

Wimbledon state that, if there is a change in weather conditions after a heat stress index does exceed 30 degrees Celsius, the match will continue with the new rule remaining in place.

Temperatures are only expected to hit around 25 degrees in Wimbledon on Monday, but it is possible that Sinner's match breaks the heat stress index barrier and he therefore becomes one of the first players to request the heat break after his match gets underway at around 1:30pm.

According to Accuweather, the temperature is forecast to at least equal the 30-degree barrier on the following Monday, when the final round of 16 matches will be taking place.