Last year, Jannik Sinner faced one of the most heart-wrenching losses in his career when he let Carlos Alcaraz slip away during their intense French Open final. At a point where he had three championship points, Sinner was unable to hold on, and Alcaraz managed to claim victory. A year later, Sinner found himself in another difficult situation, this time on Court Philippe-Chatrier, where he experienced an even more surprising downfall.
Sinner, who was the world No 1 at the time, was up against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, ranked 56th in the world. From a position of 6-3, 6-2, 5-1, it seemed impossible for Cerundolo to make it to the third round, especially considering Sinner’s 30-match winning streak. However, what followed was a dramatic turn of events that left many stunned.
Sinner had been scheduled to play the first match of the day, with a noon start time. This decision raised some eyebrows as it marked the first time a men’s singles match had been scheduled first on the French Open’s biggest court in three years. The reason behind this unusual scheduling was due to the unprecedented heatwave in May, with Sinner wanting to avoid the worst of the mid-afternoon heat.
Despite being four points away from victory, Sinner began to unravel. He lost 15 consecutive points, slipping from a 5-1 lead to 5-4, 0-40. He then took a medical timeout, explaining to the on-court trainer that he felt nauseous and dizzy. This moment gave Cerundolo a glimmer of hope, while Sinner struggled with his movement, timing, and usual power. He managed just two more games before Cerundolo secured a win with a score of 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1, marking one of the biggest upsets in grand slam history.
Sinner reflected on the incident, stating, “I woke up this morning and didn’t feel very well.” He denied that the heat was the cause of his performance. “I tried to keep the points very short in the beginning. I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall, and that’s it. It was warm, but not crazy warm. I feel like it was quite OK to play, and really, it was nothing against the heat, nothing against the weather. It was just me today, but it happens.”
With defending champion Alcaraz absent from the draw due to a wrist injury, Sinner was the biggest pre-tournament favorite since Rafael Nadal in 2009. That year, Nadal suffered his first-ever defeat at Roland Garros, to Robin Soderling in the fourth round. Now, the tournament has experienced a similar shock, which is expected to have a ripple effect throughout the draw. Sinner is also the first top seed at Roland Garros to lose before the third round since 2000, and the chance of him winning a career grand slam remains out of reach.
This unexpected result has reignited interest in the men’s tournament. Between them, Sinner and Alcaraz had dominated the last nine grand slam titles. With Alcaraz out, Novak Djokovic, who lost to Sinner in Paris last year, is now the only grand slam champion left in the draw. Djokovic, at 39, still faces a tough path to making history, but his two most significant obstacles have been removed from his path.
Second seed Alexander Zverev, who has lost nine matches in a row against Sinner, sees this as a significant opportunity to win his first grand slam title. Djokovic and Zverev are in the same half of the draw, while on the other side, an out-of-form Stefanos Tsitsipas is the only player to have previously reached a French Open final. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Ben Shelton are the highest remaining seeds.
Sinner’s early exit was a significant blow, especially considering Alcaraz’s absence from the draw. The manner of his collapse, from a seemingly unassailable lead, has raised questions about the cause. The distressing scenes of Jakub Mensik’s collapse after suffering full-body cramps on match point and Casper Ruud feeling like a “zombie” during the heatwave would have served as a warning to Sinner and his team.
Sinner’s last defeat at Masters level came when he had to retire from last season’s Shanghai Masters due to severe leg cramps amid extreme heat and humidity. He had a fortunate escape against Eliot Spizzirri in this season’s Australian Open, suffering cramps as temperatures reached 36C before the tournament’s extreme heat rule was enforced. This time, he could not recover.
“Shanghai was very tough for humidity, very high. Australia was very, very warm. It’s different when you play on hard court because the heat comes also underneath. Here, it was warm but it was OK,” he said. “It was not like I was dying because of the heat. I think today was a completely different scenario. This can happen. It’s tough to accept, of course, because of the position I’ve been in and everything considered.
“As I said in the beginning of the year, this is my main goal here, and I had a very early exit.” This unexpected loss has opened up the French Open significantly.
