‘F***, he lost?’: Inside meltdown tennis will never forget… and why Demon could be the big winner

Nobody is a robot.

So said the person most aware of that, Jannik Sinner, a champion who has been unstoppable in recent months, only to succumb to his Kyrptonite, the sizzing sun, in the hours after a staggering upset in Paris on Thursday.

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And the reaction to his stunning exit was extremely human as his rivals expressed their shock while eyeing off a golden chance.

A raging favourite to win the French Open and complete the career Grand Slam after conquering the European clay court season with Nadal-like dominance, Sinner was on the brink of victory when he “hit the wall” and collapsed.

From leading 6-3 6-2 5-1 against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, the Italian managed to win just two more games in a result German legend Boris Becker later described as “the biggest sensation at Grand Slam tournaments in recent years”.

“Nobody is a robot. Nobody is built to never fail. Today it went this way. Today I just didn’t see the way out, which normally doesn’t happen,” Sinner told Italian journalists at Roland Garros about 90 minutes after the unthinkable.

It is the biggest shock to occur at the revered clay court championship since Rafael Nadal was stunned by Swede Robin Soderling back in 2009. And shock is an understatement to describe the reaction of his peers in the hours that followed.

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ALL-TIME BOILOVER… literally: Unstoppable world No.1 Jannik Sinner OUT

Moments after emerging Spanish talent Martin Landaluce posted a comeback from two sets down to book a spot in the third round, he was in complete disbelief when told on court by Eurosport Spain that he would not be playing Sinner.

“F***. Has he lost? Has he withdrawn?” the network reported Landaluce saying in Spanish.

Cerundolo’s elder brother Francisco was still playing when the 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-1 6-1 result dropped and he could not believe it when told after his own triumph that the siblings were both through to the third round. What a famous day for that family.

As American Frances Tiafoe was in the midst of a big five set win over former Wimbledon semifinalist Hubert Hurkacz on an outside court, fans in the stands were telling him; “Sinner is out and Big Foe is in”.

“It was a funny moment. So that’s how I found out. (This African dude) said it repeatedly for three minutes straight. It was insane. That’s how I found out,” he said after producing a wild on-court celebration following his triumph.

Fellow world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was in the final stages of preparing to follow Sinner’s match on to Court Philippe Chatrier but, as cramps began to set in for Sinner midway through the third set, took an even greater interest in the affair.

“I felt so bad for him. I always cheer for Jannik. To see him struggle like that, it was really painful to see,” she said.

A SINNER SCRAMBLE

In the immediate aftermath of a shaken and sickly-looking Sinner shaking hands with his rival, journalists were already racing downstairs in a bid to intercept his coaches, Aussie mastermind Darren Cahill and Italian Simone Vagnozzi, for a debrief.

The team had sat stony-faced through the car crash that unfolded in painful fashion on the world’s most famous court, with Sinner going from cruising to appearing to cramp to struggling to stand up in a handful of games.

Clearly moving quicker than the staggering Italian, the duo were into the locker rooms and effectively disappeared into the night before their inquisitors arrived, with the questions left to the record-breaking Sinner.

During a grand slam, the upset alerts flash on broadcasters whenever a seed is under pressure. Whispers can race around the grounds of a major, particularly in a venue as compressed as Roland Garros.

This writer remembers the sudden exodus from the centre court tribunes in Paris a decade ago when it was whispered Nadal had withdrawn before his third round match with a wrist problem. That led to Novak Djokovic winning his first French title.

On Thursday it was a query from a fellow broadcaster on Radio RG as to why the score was paused at 5-4 0-40 that truly caught the attention – Sinner had left the court in a scene American great Jim Courier lambasted as an exception for top gun.

In 25 years as a journalist, it equals only Nadal’s farewell presser in Paris last year as the most attended press conference this writer has witnessed, with more than 100 journalists from around the globe straining to hear what Sinner had to say.

In English he said it was not necessarily the heat that had cooked him, though anyone who saw what unfolded or is aware of his history of meltdowns or near meltdowns in Melbourne, Shanghai and even Rome recently would question that.

And in Italian, he told journalists that he and the Sinner team needed to identify why his body was breaking down in the extreme heat during a wave Aussie Daria Kasatkina said had “boiled and fried” players.

That is indisputable for while Sinner is a generational talent who recently became the youngest man to win every Masters title – Djokovic is the only other player with a complete set – the heat has burnt him twice in succession in majors.

And having come so close a year ago in arguably the greatest French Open final when denied by Carlos Alcaraz after holding match points in the fourth set, a golden opportunity to strike while his chief rival is absent has gone begging.

THE CAUSE

The sustained heat over the past week, clearly, is a factor and so is Sinner’s ability to cope in the sun. There is a reason he started the match at midday, a time slot usually reserved for the women at Roland Garros.

It has also been extremely hot. Watching Jakub Mensik, who Alex de Minaur plays on Friday, carried through the crowd on Wednesday after he suffered a full body cramp was unnerving and several players have struggled badly this week.

Low 30C temperatures may not seem out of the ordinary for Australians, and the Queenslanders in the draw have been fine, but the sustained wave has been unrelenting on a site with little shade in a city with sparse air-conditioning.

But it is not as though Siner has not won matches in extreme heat, nor trained in those conditions, having spent extended time in the Middle East and even in Florida. He has won a US Open and also Australian Opens, though it is more a night slam now.

Becker, a fellow red-haired and pale-skinned grand slam champion, raised two points in an extended chat with Eurosport Germany when pondering whether his the issue is as much a psychological problem as it is physiological?

“Jannik Sinner was considered unbeatable. He won Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome in impressive fashion, then today he served for the match twice and still couldn’t close it out,” Becker said on Eurosport Germany and TNT.

“That’s his big problem. Especially when matches at the majors go the full distance or things get intense, he often runs into physical and perhaps even mental difficulties. Earlier this week, I was asked who Sinner’s biggest opponent in Paris would be. My answer was the weather. We saw that again today.”

The other main query is whether Sinner ultimately paid the price for being too good given his domination of recent events?

After winning the “sunshine swing” in Indian Wells and Miami, he edged Alcaraz in the final in Monte Carlo, which was the second last match the Spaniard played prior to the diagnosis of a wrist injury that will sideline him beyond Wimbledon.

There had been speculation Sinner would skip the Madrid Masters, but with Alcaraz absent, he went and conquered Spain prior to winning his hometown Italian Open.

But as a broadcaster who chatted to Sinner in Rome afterwards told this writer, the Italian had looked cooked, completely exhausted after an extended run of success. It is something Sinner touched on after his loss on Thursday.

“You just have to do the maths,” Becker said.

“Jannik has been constantly on the road since the beginning of March. He played in California, Florida, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome and kept winning. But at some point, this guy is simply drained. He’s human and just had a bad day today.

“I don’t know if it was the heat. He plays for two hours and suddenly starts showing signs of cramping. I can hardly believe it and in my opinion it all came from his head. I liked that he didn’t make excuses and simply said; ‘It was on me.’

“He was just empty. This was the one match too many. That can happen to anyone. In recent weeks, he had been playing as if he were from another planet, always switched on, always having to answer everyone’s questions and then today’s match was simply one too many.”

“For me, this can’t be physical. It has to be mental. We don’t know what’s going on inside him. How much pressure is he putting on himself? He said he slept badly. When you’re overthinking and nervous, it’s hard to get any sleep.”

EXPECTATIONS

It is probable the absence of the double-defending champion Alcaraz cemented in Sinner what everyone else was thinking. This was his Roland Garros to lose. It is probably also his best chance to win the French Open and secure the career Grand Slam. Fingers are crossed Alcaraz, who managed the feat when winning the Australian Open, recovers and continues firing.

But there are young guns coming through in Joao Fonseca, who plays Djokovic on Friday afternoon, Rafael Jodar, another Spanish stunner who has been brilliant this swing, and even new French sensation Moise Kouame, who is just 17.

Sinner is a generational talent. He will be back. And it is hard to believe he will not win Roland Garros. But it will get tougher.

But here is the intriguing part for the remainder of Roland Garros? With Alcaraz absent and Sinner sizzled, the duopoly who have dominated the majors for the past two and a half years is at an end … for now. And that presents opportunity.

All eyes will be on Djokovic, the most recent man aside from the young guns to win a major all the way back in New York in 2023, as he eyes off an unthinkable 25th grand slam.

He would become the oldest man ever to win a major and is the only grand slam champion left in the men’s draw. He has been there and done that, but he is not as invincible as he once was, nor has his form been great since he left Australia.

Pressure can do funny things to players and just as Sinner is not a robot, nor is Djokovic immune from nerves, as demonstrated when falling one match shy of completing a Grand Slam when edged by Daniil Medvedev in New York in 2021.

Three-time major finalist Alexander Zverev shapes as the man most likely. But he has blinked in the past. With the No.1 ranking on the line when Sinner was suspended last year, the German hit the skids and could not take a golden opportunity.

It may have been the heat, or it could have the awareness of a golden opportunity opening up, but after Sinner exited, fancied players Ben Shelton and Luciano Darderi both fell in matches they were expected to win. The draw is wide open.

That extends to Alex de Minaur, whose biggest Kyrptonite has been Sinner and Alcaraz. He has never found a way to beat them. The Aussie, who plays Mensik on Friday, endured a lean chance but his hopes have improved significantly too.

With Sinner in the draw, Roland Garros shaped as a procession. Then a heat wave struck. And now a chance looms large for one of the chasing pack to strike grand slam gold in Paris, as No.4 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime said.

“Everyone thought he’d win this year’s French Open. It’s not going to be him. I guess that’s the beauty of sports,” he said.

“Obviously playing against anyone but Sinner is better. However, the road ahead is still very long for me.”