World No. 1 Jannik Sinner suffered a shocking second-round defeat at the French Open, undergoing a physical breakdown under the blazing sun Thursday afternoon – which shattered a 30-match winning streak.
The premier Italian athlete, who seemed completely untouchable after collecting five consecutive titles this season, was heavily favored to secure his maiden crown on the clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier. Everything appeared to be going exactly according to plan as he ruthlessly dismantled the 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo early on, cruising to a commanding two-set lead and expanding that advantage to a nearly insurmountable 5-1 cushion in the third.
Just four points away from securing a routine victory, the relentless nearly 92° heatwave gripping Paris took a severe toll on the top seed. Sinner suddenly experienced an overwhelming wave of exhaustion, severe cramping, dizziness, and nausea. His serve velocity plummeted dramatically, and he dropped 15 consecutive points, failing twice to serve out the contest. The Italian requested a heavily debated off-court medical evaluation to check his blood pressure. This lengthy break in an air-conditioned room drew sharp criticism from television commentators and former players, who argued that utilizing medical timeouts to recover from heat exhaustion gave an unfair advantage and penalized his opponent.
The prolonged pause did nothing to disrupt the focus of the 24-year-old Argentine, who capitalized on Sinner’s lack of movement by using delicate drop shots to seal the third set 7-5. The ensuing sets were entirely one-sided as Cerundolo saved all eight break points he encountered across the final two frames, completing a staggering 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 triumph. With this victory, Cerundolo achieved his first-ever berth in the third round of a Grand Slam and became the lowest-ranked competitor to best a world No. 1 at Roland Garros since 1998. “I think I was a little bit lucky,” Cerundolo remarked. “I feel sorry for him – he was serving to win the match.”
The upset leaves the men’s draw completely wide open, especially with Sinner’s primary rival Carlos Alcaraz already missing the tournament due to a right wrist injury. In his post-match press conference, a visibly depleted Sinner confessed that he woke up feeling unwell and struggled to combat the extreme environmental elements. Sinner revealed: “I struggled, starting to feel very dizzy. Very low of energy. Tried to serve it out, but didn’t have a lot of energy. Fourth set, I let it go a little bit trying to have a bit more energy in the fifth… then it went a bit downwards Woke up this morning, didn’t feel very well and tried to keep the points very short. Also in the beginning I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall, and that’s it.”
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