World No. 1 Jannik Sinner was the overwhelming favorite to win the Roland Garros title. He almost seemed invincible as he entered this Grand Slam after having won five consecutive ATP tournaments.
There is one major weakness of the Italian, which gets the better of him at times - the heat. However, Sinner denied the role of the heat in his shocking second-round loss against World No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
Sinner was serving for the match at 5-1 in the third set when things took a sharp turn. Down 0-40 in the game, Sinner exited the court and took a medical timeout due to dizziness and nausea.
However, he was unable to recover his physical condition, and Cerundolo capitalized fully on this situation, clinching 18 of the final 20 games to seal the win 6-2, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 1-6 and deliver one of the biggest upsets of the season so far. Speaking at the press conference about his loss, Sinner remarked:
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. Very important game the first one. Couldn't hold. Then it went a bit downwards.
Sinner has struggled in marathon matches throughout his career. He is 0-8 in matches that extend to 4 hours. Today's match clocked 3 hours and 36 minutes. He has lost 12 five-set matches in his career and won only 6. His last five-set loss came against Novak Djokovic in this year's Australian Open semifinal. Sinner further added:
Even though I was playing some great tennis, but really couldn't find any energy today. It was a tough spot to be in. But, again, this is the sport. It was warm, but not crazy warm. I feel like it was quite okay to play. Really it was nothing against the heat, nothing against the weather. It was just me today, but it happens.
This marks Sinner's third loss of the season. Sinner was hoping to complete the Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros. The Roland Garros title and Olympic gold medal are the only two big accolades missing from Sinner's resume.
Jannik Sinner has often been called a 'robot' by his peers, commentators, and tennis analysts. He plays with a precision and mechanical consistency that makes opponents feel like they are playing a machine that never misses. Sinner has earlier addressed this label, and he also spoke about it after his second-round Roland Garros defeat:
Nobody's a robot. Nobody's built to never fail. Today it went this way. Today I just didn't see the way out… which normally doesn't happen to me.
Sinner's opponent, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, is set to face Martin Landaluce in the third round of the tournament, marking the first time the Argentine has reached the third round at a Grand Slam. This also marks the first time since the US Open 2023 that a Grand Slam will not be won by either Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz.
Despite the early exit at Roland Garros, Jannik Sinner's 2026 clay season is one for the books. He won all three clay-court Masters 1000 titles this season, becoming the only person to do so after Rafael Nadal in 2010. After his victory in Rome, Sinner became only the second person to complete the Career Golden Masters after Novak Djokovic.
Prior to this season, Sinner had only won an ATP 250 title on clay and had only reached two big clay court finals in his career. With Sinner's clay swing now ending, the 24-year-old will only be playing the Wimbledon Championships in the grass swing, with the aim of defending his title there.
(212 Articles Published)