Paris heat almost floored world number one men’s tennis player, Jannik Sinner, who suffered a shocking defeat in the second round of the ongoing French Open 2026 against the unseeded Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Thursday (May 28).
Sinner struggled with dizziness, dehydration and movement issues in intense heat after leading 2-0 in the first two sets. With no Carlos Alcaraz around, Sinner was the frontrunner to win the second Slam of the year, but Court Philippe-Chatrier witnessed an unexpected turnaround.
Despite reports of players battling intense heatwaves in recent editions, the 2026 Roland Garros made it mandatory for top-seeded players to play at least one match in the day session for fairness in competition. Per the rules, Sinner also featured in his first afternoon game of this Slam and suffered from intense heat throughout the match.
Although he faced a fierce Carlos Alcaraz in an epic five-setter last year, suffering a shocking loss, he opted for a controversial medical time-out at this year’s Australian Open Round of 16 against Holger Rune, which helped him revive energy to complete the match. The history, however, did not repeat itself as Sinner lost to the Argentine 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 1-6 in three hours and 36 minutes.
Meltdown
Inches close to a comfortable second-round win, Sinner complained of dizziness and dehydration late in the third set while leading 5-1. He decided to take a medical time-out, only to never recover from that and suffer a shock early exit from this year’s French Open.
After the break, Sinner struggled with his body movement, and as a result, conceded three sets to lose the match to world number 56.
After he dominated Juan across the first two sets and led the third one (5-1), Sinner looked in discomfort, clutching his inner thigh and struggling with movement during longer rallies. After he dropped that serve, the situation turned severe for the Italian.
Making the most of this chance, the young Argentine made Sinner cover distance on the baseline, eventually tiring him and piling up the pain he was suffering from cramps in the Paris heat. Down 1-5 at one stage, Juan clawed his way back to win the third set 7-5. Soon after, the scores were level, after the Argentine won the fourth set 6-1.
Sinner did change his tactics heading into the final set but failed miserably, conceding it (1-6) and the game to one of the shockers thus far this season.