Jannik Sinner wilts in French Open upset, throwing men’s draw wide open

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Jannik Sinner wilts in French Open upset, throwing men’s draw wide open

Jannik Sinner struggles in the heat during his second-round match at the French Open on Thursday afternoon. Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

By Charlie Eccleshare

May 28, 2026 Updated 11:54 pm GMT+7

PARIS — Jannik Sinner’s bid for a career Grand Slam wilted at the French Open in the second round on Thursday afternoon.

The world No. 1 entered the match with 30 straight wins but lost 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1. Sinner’s defeat, to Argentina’s world No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, was a seismic shock, considering Sinner was four points from victory.

How it played out was entirely predictable.

From the start of the tournament, the biggest threat to Sinner appeared not to be any of the other 127 players in the draw, but the conditions.

Melbourne’s hot weather nearly helped to knock Sinner out of January’s Australian Open. In high temperatures and humidity at October’s Shanghai Masters, full-body cramps forced him to retire against Tallon Griekspoor, accounting for his last defeat at the ATP Masters 1000 level, the rung below the Grand Slams.

Unlike in Melbourne, when the Australian Open’s heat rule saw the roof close just as Sinner was on the brink, there was no reprieve in Paris. With temperatures at around 90 degrees and no shelter on Court Philippe-Chatrier, he was pushed to the point of near collapse — but did not blame the weather for his lack of energy.

In a news conference after the match, Sinner said that he had woken up feeling unwell after a bad night’s sleep. From the start of the match, he said, he wanted to keep the points short. By the third set, he was “starting to feel very dizzy. Very low of energy,” he said. “I just kind of hit the wall, and that’s it.

“It was warm, but not crazy warm,” Sinner said. “I feel like it was quite OK to play. Really it was nothing against the heat, nothing against the weather. It was just me today, but it happens.”

The extent to which it was the heat compared with general fatigue and illness that contributed to Sinner’s defeat is hard to exactly ascertain, but it follows a pattern. When matches go long, or to five sets, Sinner’s win percentage drops. He has not won a match longer than three hours and 48 minutes, and his career record in five-set matches is 6-11. Sinner’s defeat to Cerúndolo took three hours and 31 minutes; Sinner’s nearest rival, Carlos Alcaraz, has a five-set record of 15-1. What can possibly stop Sinner?

The outcome felt impossible toward the end of the third set, when Sinner appeared to be in complete control. He led 6-3, 6-2, 5-2 when he first served for the match, but then suffered a spectacular collapse. A game away from victory, Sinner completely faded in the afternoon heat and lost 18 consecutive points.

Sinner was in such a bad way that he left the court for treatment when serving up 5-4 and down 40-0. Players are not allowed to receive treatment for cramps, which Sinner appeared to be suffering from, but he told the umpire that he was feeling dizzy and was allowed to exit Court Philippe-Chatrier and see a trainer.

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He still looked dazed and unwell when he returned, and Cerúndolo was able to polish off the game and the next couple to reduce the deficit to two sets to one.

Sinner took a 10-minute break and tried to gain some respite. It did not arrive.

Jannik Sinner’s bid for the career Grand Slam ended despite being four points from victory. Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

Although he looked a bit sprightlier early on in the fourth, it quickly got away from him. Cerúndolo, keeping his focus extremely well in what could have been a frazzling situation, saved break points at 1-1 and 3-1, the last of which saw a debilitated Sinner give up on the rally midpoint. Cerúndolo’s excellent defence and ability to force Sinner to hit an extra ball were critical at this point in breaking the world No. 1’s resolve. In his news conference, Sinner said he gave up the fourth set in order to try and win the decider.

Instead, the decider followed a similar pattern, with Sinner going for early kills but Cerúndolo able to absorb the power. Once they got into rallies, he also refused to overhit or change direction, pinning Sinner into a test of endurance that he was never going to pass.

Cerúndolo raced to a 4-0 lead, and after saving break points to go up 5-1, it was clearly over. Sinner staggered his way through the last game, and just like that, the Grand Slam title — and with it the career Grand Slam — that had felt inevitable was gone.

“I don’t remember last time I felt this weak,” Sinner said, before playing down the significance of his lack of rest in the last month or so. He won all three of the ATP Masters 1000 events in the lead-up to Paris, the first player to do so since Rafael Nadal in 2010, but didn’t think that necessarily led to Thursday’s collapse. Sinner said he would now benefit from a mental and physical break in the lead-up to Wimbledon, which he won last year and which gets under way on Monday June 29. At present he is not scheduled to play any events between now and then.

Sinner’s defeat leaves the 2026 French Open as the most open men’s draw at a Grand Slam for years. With two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz out, Sinner was an overwhelming favorite. Now, no one in the draw has won a major in the last two and a half years, and only Novak Djokovic has won one ever.

With temperatures only getting hotter and the French Open seemingly unprepared for this weather, Sinner knows he has a major problem as he looks to overcome what appears to be the only thing standing between him and an all-time great career. He has now suffered two devastating losses at the tournament in as many years, after losing from three championship points up against Alcaraz in last year’s epic final.

Meanwhile, Cerúndolo can reflect on the biggest win of his career by far. He’ll face Spain’s Martín Landaluce in the third round Saturday.

Charlie Eccleshare is a senior tennis writer for The Athletic, having previously covered soccer as the Tottenham Hotspur correspondent for five years. He joined in 2019 after five years writing about football and tennis at The Telegraph.

Tagged To: Tennis Top Sports News

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