Sinner out in Paris, Cerundolo climbs to his throne from hell

On the centre court of Philippe-Chatrier the thermometer crossed thirty degrees on Thursday. Jannik Sinner was leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 and held three match points. Over the next hour and a half, the world number one had to sit on the bench, call for a trainer and cool his neck with a towel full of ice.

Argentine outsider Juan Manuel Cerundolo, watching that walk to the bench, never forgot the image. A clay grinder ranked 56 in the world, he returned to the court emboldened and turned a lost match into one of the biggest upsets in Roland Garros history.

Three match points, then the comeback of the century

The first dip arrived in the 13th game of the third set. Sinner went after the lines twice and got stuck on the clay, his diagonals went half a metre wide. Cerundolo locked into his serve, broke back, then broke again and pushed the set to 7-5.

After the break, the Italian came back with shorter steps. He tried to shorten the points with drop shots, he couldn’t breathe along the whole baseline.

I wanted to finish the match as fast as possible, but when my body stopped me, I couldn’t do anything more, Jannik Sinner said after the match. This is a big lesson for me about what heat can do.

The Argentine cashed in. The fourth set went 6-1, the fifth the same. After 3 hours and 36 minutes, Cerundolo fell onto the clay, then straight into his father’s team embrace.

Numbers that hurt

The Italian entered the fifth set with just 13 percent of second-serve points won. No one believed he’d come back. Nor did he.

• 31 matches in a row won at the Grand Slams before the loss
• first defeat after 19 straight wins on clay
• three match points missed in the 12th and 13th games of the third set
• the world number 56 stands in Paris as the biggest outsider among the four survivors into the third round

The crowd that saw what others didn’t

In the sector above the service line sat about twenty Italians, Sinner’s father among them. When the Italian led 6-3, 6-2, 5-1, they started to sing. Cerundolo’s bench on the other side stayed silent. When the score turned 1-6, 1-6, those same fans stood up and quietly left the sector.

Near the end of the fourth set, Sinner called for a medical time-out. The medical team cooled him with thermal pads around his neck and knees. The exchange with the physiotherapist lasted seven minutes. The umpire allowed two more breaks for cramp management.

He had cramps from his shoulders to his calves. I can’t remember the last time I saw a top-ranked player enter such a physical collapse in the same match, said the report by the French team tracking player fitness in Paris.

What’s left of the draw

Without Sinner, the draw has flipped. Carlos Alcaraz didn’t even appear in Paris because of injury, and now the top seed is gone too. Alexander Zverev remains the highest-ranked in the top half. Novak Djokovic in the bottom.

In the locker room there’s already talk that this is the first real Slam for the new generation. Joao Fonseca, who pushed Sinner at the Madrid warm-up tournament, now plays Djokovic in the third round. The winner of that match walks Sinner’s path, except that part of the draw hasn’t been guaranteed.

The Italian media immediately questioned how Sinner will react after this loss. Five months to the US Open in New York is a fighting period for any player, but for the world number one it’s time to rework his preparation for high temperatures. Coach Simone Vagnozzi told Italy’s Gazzetta that a reorganisation of the Tuscan training camp starts, with focus on hydration and adaptation to extreme conditions.

The Argentine media on Friday morning declared Cerundolo a new national sporting hero. Liga A clubs are sending him invitations as a guest of honour, and his coach Diego Junker says the Argentine isn’t getting carried away.

What’s next for the Argentine

Cerundolo in the third round plays the winner of Borna Coric against Damir Dzumhur. The calculation is that the clay court works in his favour, since both opponents post better results on hard.

If the Argentine clears that round too, one of the potential top-eight names awaits him, with a possible meeting with Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-final. Five matches separate him from the semi-final, which looks like a realistic ceiling for the first Slam to land in his hands.

Will Cerundolo crash from exhaustion in the third round after a match like this, or did he pull energy out of today for a new week in Paris?