ATP Tour

Sinner: 'I just kind of hit the wall'

Jannik Sinner went from the brink of second-round victory to a shock exit on Thursday at Roland Garros, where the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings struggled physically in a five-set defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

Speaking at his post-match press conference after his 6-2, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 1-6 loss, Sinner explained the issues he was having on court on a hot day at the clay major in Paris. The Italian was just a game from victory at 5-1 in the third set, but was unable to get over the line as Argentine World No. 56 Cerundolo secured a dramatic turnaround victory.

“I struggled, starting to feel very dizzy,” Sinner said after his career-best 30-match winning streak came to an end in the French capital. “Very low in energy. Tried to serve it out but didn't have a lot of energy. Fourth set, I let it go a little bit trying to have a bit more energy in the fifth. Very important game the first one. Couldn't hold. Then it went a bit downwards.

“I woke up this morning, didn't feel very well and tried to keep the points very short. Also in the beginning I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall, and that's it.”

In spite of his own physical struggles, Sinner was keen to highlight the play of Cerundolo, who was rock-solid across the second half of the match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I didn't feel very well on court, but it can happen," Sinner reflected. "I was in a good spot, also third set. I couldn't serve it out. Then struggled quite a bit. But also congrats to him. I don't want to take anything away from him. He played a very solid match, especially also in the end, and that's the sport.”

Despite his shock early exit from Roland Garros, Sinner can reflect on an 18-1 clay season in which he completed a clean sweep of the three ATP Masters 1000 events on the surface (Monte-Carlo, Madrid, Rome). Rafael Nadal is the only other player to have achieved that feat, in 2010. Even after dropping 1,250 points with his second-round exit, Sinner also remains the runaway No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings from his great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

“I always try to look the positive side,” Sinner said. “If you [look at] the whole clay swing, very [good]. Played really, really, really good, winning three tournaments in a row on clay. Coming here, also how I was playing tennis, I felt very well. Hitting the ball in a good way, moving well, and today was just not meant to be.

“I think many things together caused this problem today, but again, it can happen. I just need my time now to process what went wrong here and the positives also that we can put in good practise weeks before [Wimbledon]. Also, because after Wimbledon, we have important tournaments coming up… Montreal and Cincinnati and US Open. There are still plenty to play this year.”