Jannik Sinner likes the feeling of going fast – in a car, on skis, on the tennis court. This time last year he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round here before racing to a two-set quarter-final lead over Novak Djokovic.

We know how that one turned out, but the bottom line is that his grass court game is pretty great and getting better still.

On a cool evening on No.1 Court it felt as if he expected to zip through his second round joust with Diego Schwartzman, now ranked 90 places lower than the No.8 spot he achieved in 2020.

Instead, for a good while the Argentinian’s doughty chicanery confounded his 0-3 career record against Sinner, as well as the Italian’s mammoth horsepower from the back of the court.

The tipping point came at the business end of the first set. Having already allowed three crucial break opportunities to go by, Schwartzman missed top gear with his worst game of the match.

Sinner upped the revs to grab the set, stepping on the gas again at the start of the second, and then flooring it as he whooshed off in a cloud of dust to take the match 7-5, 6-1, 6-2.

“I always go on court with pretty high expectations,” he said afterwards. “Hopefully I can play good tennis here, point by point. We’ll see where I finish in this beautiful place.

“I thought we were both a bit tight at the beginning and then I hit quite hard, especially in the third set. Moving him around isn’t easy because he’s so fast. He’s a good friend of mine – we play doubles sometimes, and he’s such a nice man. It’s always tough to play against a friend.”

Could Sinner be a true contender for the title here? It’s so difficult to look beyond Djokovic and Alcaraz – but no one this Fortnight is going to be thrilled to find the 21-year-old on the other side of the net.

Yet for much of the opening set in this second round encounter, Sinner couldn’t crack the Schwartzman puzzle. More than once he could only applaud Schwartzman’s invention – a tender kiss of a drop shot here, a gorgeous pass there.

But Sinner’s grass court game has improved too much over the last couple of years for defeat to be a realistic prospect against this opposition.

It’s been a peculiar year for Sinner. He rode a wave of consistently strong performances in every tournament he entered until fitness issues saw it all judder to a halt.

Since withdrawing from Barcelona he has struggled to regain his early season form, and slumped grimly at Roland-Garros to little-fancied Daniel Altmaier in the second round.

But coach Darren Cahill has declared his charge as fit for Wimbledon as at any time this year, which makes Sinner something of a riveting prospect over the coming days.

Here, against the world No.98, the Italian 21-year-old delivered an assured performance to reach the last 32, where he will play either Aleksandar Vukic of Australia or Frenchman Quentin Halys.

All that was missing from the victory over Schwartzman was Sinner’s faithful band of carrot-clad compatriots, the splendid Carota Boys.

Whenever possible, they cheer on their copper-haired hero from the stands while dressed as giant orange root vegetables, on the perfectly logical basis that Sinner was observed gnawing on a carrot during a changeover at a tournament four years ago.

Having applauded their man throughout his first round win here on Monday, alas they had to fly home. But if Sinner goes as deep as seems possible this Fortnight, they will surely feel compelled to return.

Forza Jannik, as the men dressed like carrots say.

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