Jannik Sinner has said he ‘needs time’ to reflect on what went wrong during his shock French Open defeat, after admitting the result was ‘hard to accept.’
The Italian looked in total control while leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-2 during his second-round match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo before the hot conditions began to take their toll.
After failing to serve out the match at the first attempt, Sinner then opted to take a medical timeout at 5-4 in the third set.
Unfortunately for the world No 1, the timeout did little to improve his physical condition, as he was unable to recapture the explosiveness he had shown during the opening stages of the match.
The Argentine then stormed through 15 of the next 17 games to secure a stunning 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Cerundolo, ranked world No 54, will now face the winner of the match between Martin Landaluce and Vit Kopriva.
“I didn’t feel very good on the court – these things happen,” began Sinner during his post-match press conference.
“During the third set, I started well, but then I began to struggle. Congratulations to him because he deserved it. His game was solid, and that’s sport.
“I felt unwell, my head was spinning, and I had no more energy. Nothing was coming out. I tried to serve for the match, but I didn’t have much left. I let the fourth set go, then the first game of the fifth was tough, I couldn’t hold on anymore, and everything started going downhill.
“I felt it this morning. I didn’t sleep very well and was already struggling a bit when I woke up.
“In Grand Slams, there are always days when you don’t feel good, and that’s what happened to me. I hit the wall, and that’s it. It was hot, but not excessively hot – the conditions were fine to play in. It was just me today, that’s how it happened.”
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Cramping and dehydration have been recurring issues for Sinner throughout his career, despite his on-court success.
At the latest edition of the Shanghai Masters, the Italian was forced to retire in the third set after cramping against Tallon Griekspoor.
In January, Sinner looked close to retirement against Eliot Spizzirri in the third round of the Australian Open. However, on that occasion, he managed to prevail in a tight four-set battle.
Across all 18 of his five-set matches, the world No 1 has won just six and is yet to win any match lasting longer than four hours.
“In Shanghai, there was a lot of humidity, and in Australia it was extremely hot, I remember,” analysed Sinner.
“It’s different on hard courts, where the heat comes from below. Here it was hot, but it was manageable – I wasn’t struggling because of the heat alone.
“It’s hard to accept, given my position, but that’s the way it is. I’m not going to play many tournaments before Wimbledon because I’ll need time to recover fully.
“I always try to look at the positives. I played well by winning three tournaments on clay. At the start of this tournament, I was playing well and moving well. Today was a very different day, one that shouldn’t have happened.
“I need time to understand what went wrong, but also to focus on the positives. One positive is that I’ll now have several weeks to train before Wimbledon.”
Heading into the match, Sinner had won the season’s first five Masters 1000 titles – becoming the only player to achieve the feat – including all three clay-court events in Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome.
As a result, combined with the absence of two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, the Italian was the overwhelming favourite to lift his maiden French Open title.
Sinner will also drop 1,250 ranking points after reaching the final 12 months ago, where he lost to Alcaraz in the longest final in the tournament’s history.
“You never know,” the world No 1 responded when asked whether he wished he had played fewer warm-up events.
“If I hadn’t played Madrid or Rome, maybe I still would have come here and had a day like this where I felt sick. I won three tournaments on clay – incredible results and an amazing streak.
“It’s not what I was looking for here in Paris, but sometimes you just don’t know.”
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