PARIS.- Cataclysm in Roland Garros: world number 1 and immense favorite for the title, Jannik Sinnersaid goodbye this Thursday in the second round after falling to the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (56th) by 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6 and 1-6, in a duel in which the Italian physically collapsed due to the heat.
On the verge of closing the pass, when he dominated 5-1 in the third set, the 24-year-old Italian succumbed to the stifling heat and suddenly collapsed, letting the victory slip away after having controlled the duel with great superiority.
“No one is a robot, I had no energy today, it’s something that can happen… I had difficulties, I felt bad, my head was spinning,” Sinner said at a press conference.
“I woke up this morning, I wasn’t feeling very well and I tried to make the points very short. Also, at the beginning I was hitting very clean, very well, and then I just hit the wall and that was it,” added a resigned Sinner.
“I think I was a little lucky”
“It’s hard for him. I think I was a little lucky. I feel for him. He deserved to win and then I don’t know what happened to him,” Cerúndolo said after finishing his match in the Philippe Chatriera caldera at more than 30 degrees and a bright sun.
“Maybe cramps, maybe the pressure, but I hope he recovers. I’m super happy. I’m going to continue trying to play my best. It’s a tournament that I love to play in, clay is my best surface,” added the 24-year-old Argentine, little brother of the world number 26. Fran Cerúndolo, who a few minutes later achieved his place in the third round against the Frenchman Hugo Gaston.
“I went to the towel and everyone told me, your brother is winning! I said ‘please stop, don’t tell me anything else’, I’m suffering from my match… Then they told me he won and I told myself, damn it, I can’t lose now,” the eldest Cerúndolo told television.
Ultra favorite in the absence of the double defending champion Carlos Alcarazthe Italian arrived with an incredible streak of invincibility on the circuit: 30 consecutive victories after his titles in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome this year. I didn’t fall so quickly into a grand slam from Roland Garros 2023.
Defeated last year in an epic final against Alcaraz, who saved three match points and came back two sets, Sinner will not take advantage of his loss to win the only Grand Slam title missing from his record.
His defeat, combined with the absence of the Spaniard, opens space for Novak Djokovic in search of a historic 25th Grand Slam tournament, which plays on Friday against Joao Fonseca.
Image of his collapse, in the third set, after having lost 15 points in a row against the Argentine, the Italian sat on the side advertising panels to recover his spirits with 4-5, 0-40, after more than two hours of play.
Cramps or dehydration?
The referee came down to inquire about his condition and the Italian replied that he did not know if it was “dehydration” or something else, while he leaned on the racket as if it were a cane to stay upright, perhaps affected by cramps.
The Italian obtained the attention of a physiotherapist, before going to the locker room for several minutes for “an evaluation” of his state of health, according to the referee.
Nothing went in the right direction again for Sinner, who lost that set before scoring just one game in the next and another in the fifth and deciding set.
An agony broadcast live, with the best player in the world chaining flagrant errors, unable to go up to the net to play drop shots, taking advantage of every small pause to stretch, leaning painfully on his racket and at each change of side putting an ice bag on his neck or emptying a bottle of water on his head, with a lost gaze.
The redhead raised in the mountains of northern Italy had to retire in October in the Shanghai Masters 1000 (China), also for similar reasons.
