World No 1 Jannik Sinner has blamed illness rather than extreme heat for his dramatic second-round defeat at the French Open, a loss he described as 'tough to accept'. The Italian top seed crashed out 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 to Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerúndolo on Thursday, despite leading by two sets and 5-1 in the third.
Sinner, who had won 30 consecutive matches coming into the tournament, suddenly began to struggle physically from 5-1 up in the third set. He lost 18 points in a row and five consecutive games, requiring a medical evaluation and asking the umpire if he could leave the court to vomit. He was uncompetitive for the final 90 minutes.
'Woke up, didn't feel very well and tried to keep the points very short,' Sinner said. 'Also, in the beginning I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I kind of hit the wall.' He denied that the heat was a factor, insisting he felt dizzy and low on energy after feeling sick in the morning.
The defeat leaves the men's draw wide open, with Alexander Zverev now the favourite. Novak Djokovic, at 39, also sees an opportunity to claim a record-extending 25th grand slam title. Sinner said he will take time off before Wimbledon, skipping all grass-court warm-up events.
In other matches, 17-year-old French wildcard Moïse Kouamé became the youngest man to reach a grand slam third round since Rafael Nadal in 2003, beating Adolfo Daniel Vallejo in five sets. Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff also advanced, while Aryna Sabalenka set up a third-round meeting with Daria Kasatkina.
