Sin Tax: Cerundolo Outlasts Cramping Sinner in Roland Garros Shocker
By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 28, 2026
Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty
Beneath a searing sunshine spotlight, a tormenting shadow struck down world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
In a seismic shocker, Sinner succumbed to searing heat, piercing cramping and Juan Manuel Cerundolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 in a massive Roland Garros second-round upset.
A grinding Cerundolo and gnawing cramps conspired to smash Sinner’s 30-match winning streak, shatter his Roland Garros title quest and stymie his dream of completing the career Grand Slam in Paris.
“I struggled, starting to feel very dizzy. Very low of energy,” Sinner told the media in Paris. “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.
“But, yeah, 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.”
Serving down 1-5 in the third set, Cerundolo was four points from a loss and walk to the locker room as Sinner completely commanded nearly three full sets.
The 56th-ranked Cerundolo stayed the course becoming the first Argentinean to defeat a world No. 1 since Juan Martin del Potro beat No. 1 Rafael Nadal at 2018 US Open and first on clay since Agustin Calleri toppled No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero at 2003 Davis Cup.
“I was a little bit lucky,” Cerundolo said after his first career Top 10 win. “I feel sorry for him because he deserved to win a lot of matches. Of course, he deserved to win this match
“I don’t know what happened, he was cramping or maybe the pressure. I hope he recovers.”
Then leg cramps struck Sinner and soon spread leaving the Italian, who cramped severely at the Australian Open to American Eliot Spizzirri, battling both his body and the Argentinean clay-court specialist. On this day, the fair-skinned, red-haired Sinner could not survive either opponent falling to 1-4 in career French Open five-setters.
Leaning on his Head racquet as if it were a cane, Sinner tried to stabilize, but went into a physical free fall. Spreading the court to turn up the torment, Cerundolo won 18 of the final 20 games. Sinner drops to 37-3 on the season with only Novak Djokovic, Jakub Mensik and Cerundolo beating the Sunshine Double champion this season.
It’s a Cerundolo celebration day in Paris. Juan Manuel Cerundolo isn’t even the highest-ranked man in his family. That honor belongs to older brother Francisco Cerundolo, who defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 on Court Simonne Mathieu today.
The Cerundolo brothers join Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev and Gene Mayer and Sandy Mayer as the third set of brothers to reach the Roland Garros third round in the Open Era.
It’s a massive moment for men’s tennis. Sinner and rival Carlos Alcaraz, who squared off in an epic Roland Garros final last June, had combined to capture nine consecutive Grand Slam championships. Now, that streak is done.
The 2025 finalist Sinner is the first men’s No. 1 to lose before the third round since Andre Agassi in 2000 leaving 39-year-old Novak Djokovic as the lone former French Open champion still standing in the men’s draw. Cerundolo is the first man to upset a No. 1 before the Roland Garros third round since Karol Kucera in 2000.
Trudging around the court on legs that looked like licorice, a spent Sinner kept trying but looked depleted and demoralized as his 18-match clay-court winning streak expired.
Baking beneath blistering 92-degree heat, one of the hottest May 28th afternoons in Paris history, Sinner spent some changeovers, ice towels wrapped around his neck, slumping forward in his seat trying to escape a pulverizing nemesis.
It is Sinner’s first loss since he bowed to Jakub Mensik on February 19th on the hard courts of Doha. On that day, 20-year-old Mensik rode vicious velocity and sharp-angled volleys to a stunning 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 upset of world No. 2 Sinner to charge into the Doha semifinals.
Talk about a major turnaround.
In the space of an hour, today’s opener on Court Philippe Chatrier completely flipped. Sinner went from a 6-3, 6-2, 5-1
The seismic upset blows up the top quarter of the draw.
Leading 5-1 in the third, Sinner was on cruise control until cramping crisis struck his right quadriceps.
Tugging at his leg between points, a hobbled Sinner limped his way through a seven-game slide as Cerundolo exploited his immobility.
Patiently hitting corner to corner to punish a spent Sinner, Cerundolo rolled through 18 consecutive points in one stretch.
“The third set I let go to recover also physically, and fifth set we all know everything can happen, but yeah, it was tough,” Sinner said. “I was in a tough spot in the fourth and also in the fifth at some point. I didn’t have energy, really. I was very, very flat, you know, the whole body.
“I don’t remember last time I felt this weak, but yeah, look, it is what it is. I tried to stay there with all I had today, and this was the maximum I had. Of course, a pity because I was playing really well the first couple of sets, and also the third set was playing really well. Yeah, that’s the sport.”
The lanky Italian conceded the fourth set in an effort to save his ravaged legs for the fifth.
In an absolutely inexplicable decision, Sinner opted against leaving the court for a five-minute break after the fourth. Instead, a depleted Sinner sat on his court-side chair, ice towel draped around his neck, spraying water on his face like a boxer seeking smelling salts for the final rounds of a punishing fight.
As Cerundolo’s coach signaled for him to keep the ball moving side-to-side, the left-hander explored all errors of the terre battue holding firm for a 4-0 fifth-set lead. By then, Cerundolo had won 16 of the last 16 games and Sinner was repeatedly hunching over at the waist trying to gulp in air and summon some strength.
Though Sinner’s stunning exit is already being billed by some as one of the most shocking upsets in recent sports history, is it really that surprising?
Remember, Sinner suffered on-court illness in a physical Rome semifinal win over Daniil Medvedev earlier this month, and has seen his body betray him amid searing conditions in the past.
Despite his dominance, Sinner suffers and struggles in five-setters. Sinner fell to 6-12 lifetime in five-set matches in his earliest French Open exit in three years.
In a pre-tournament Zoom call with the media to promote TNT’s Roland Garros coverage, former world No. 1 John McEnroe, who saw his 42-match winning streak dissolve in the heat in an excruciating five-set loss to Ivan Lendl in the 194 French Open final, told Tennis Now he believed extreme heat could haunt Sinner as it did to him.
The Hall of Famer conceded heat and pressure sapped his strength in the ‘84 final and asserts those two factors are the biggest threat to Sinner’s quest to win Roland Garros and complete the career Grand Slam at age 24.
“It’s pretty much what I’ve been saying: The only way Sinner is going to lose is if the heat gets to him,” McEnroe told Tennis Now a week ago. “That was part of the factor for me as well—it sort of cost me the match. So these are the types of things that can happen.
“The invincibility part you feel you come on the court with a lot of confidence and you use that to your advantage, but it can become a burden—the pressure—if you sort of let it get to you.”
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