Last year, Jannik Sinner suffered one of the most devastating losses imaginable when he allowed Carlos Alcaraz to wriggle from his grasp when three Championship points down in their memorable French Open final. A year on, the world No 1 returned to Court Philippe-Chatrier and experienced an even more staggering collapse. From 6-3 6-2 5-1, the chances of Sinner’s opponent, the world No 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo, reaching the third round and ending the top seed’s dominant 30-match winning streak were unthinkable.
Sinner, though, was dealing with a ticking time bomb. The 24-year-old had been scheduled to play the day’s opening match, with a noon start time. That raised an eyebrow to begin with, as it represented the first time a men’s singles match had been scheduled first on the French Open’s biggest court in three years. Given the unprecedented May heatwave, the rationale was clear: Sinner wanted to get his match over and done with as soon as possible, and avoid the worst of the sweltering mid-afternoon conditions.
Sinner was four points away from victory. He even served for it. But then he unravelled, losing 15 points in a row to slump from 5-1 up to 5-4, 0-40. He left the court for a medical exemption, telling the on-court trainer that he felt nauseous and dizzy. With it, Cerundolo had the glimmer of hope he was looking for. Sinner, meanwhile, saw his movement, timing of shot and usual power completely desert him, managing just two more games as Cerundolo won 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-1 6-1 for the biggest grand slam upset in years.
With defending champion Alcaraz absent from the draw due to his wrist injury, Sinner was the biggest pre-tournament favourite since Rafael Nadal in 2009. That, however, was the year Nadal suffered his first-ever defeat at Roland Garros, to Robin Soderling in the fourth round. Now the tournament has experienced a similar earthquake that will spread throughout the draw and should act as a wake-up call for every player remaining in the draw. Sinner is also the first top seed at Roland Garros to lose before the third round since 2000, the career grand slam remaining out of reach.
It does, though, reignite wider interest in the men’s tournament. Between them, Sinner and Alcaraz had swept the last nine grand slam titles in a row. It means Novak Djokovic, who lost to Sinner in Paris last year and has suffered numerous defeats to his young rivals while bidding to win a record 25th grand slam title, is the only grand slam champion left in the draw. Djokovic, at 39, still faces a tough route to grand slam history, but his two most significant obstacles since he won his last major title at the 2023 US Open have been removed from his path.
Second seed Alexander Zverev, a defeated finalist in two Roland Garros finals, who had lost nine matches in a row against Sinner, should also sense that this is his opportunity to win a first grand slam title. Djokovic and Zverev are in the same half – on the other side of the draw, an out-of-form Stefanos Tsitsipas is left as the only player to have reached a French Open final, with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Ben Shelton the highest remaining seeds. A Sinner title felt inevitable after he had swept the clay-court season, winning titles in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, but there is going to be an unexpected grand slam finalist on Sunday 7 June; there may be an unexpected champion.
Sinner will have many more opportunities to win a first French Open title, but not doing so in a year where Alcaraz is absent from the draw represents a significant blow. So, too, is the manner of his collapse, from a seemingly unassailable lead, as well as the cause of it. The distressing scenes of Jakub Mensik’s collapse after suffering full-body cramps on match point and Casper Ruud feeling like a “zombie” while playing during this heatwave would have alerted Sinner and his teams to the danger of playing under the sun.
Sinner’s last defeat at Masters level came when he was forced to retire from last season’s Shanghai Masters due to severe leg cramps amid extreme heat and humidity. He then had a fortunate escape against Eliot Spizzirri in this season’s Australian Open, suffering cramps as temperatures reached 36 degrees before the tournament’s extreme heat rule was enforced and Sinner was able to recover before progressing in four sets. This time, Sinner could not recover. It has blown the French Open wide open.
