The world tennis leader Jannik Sinner (24 years old), the big favorite to win the trophy at Roland Garros after the infinite series of successes on clay, was today surprisingly eliminated from the tournament by the Argentinian Juan Manuel Cerundolo (24 years old, 56 ATP).
The Italian led 2-0 in sets and 5-1 in set 3. He had just one game to go in round 3, but the heat was killing him. It ended 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 for the South American, after 3 and a half hours of match in a suffocating atmosphere.
Against Cerundolo, the Italian was in complete control of the match until the record heat in Paris (temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius) brought him to his knees. The physical breakdown came during the third set when Sinner said, “I have to throw up”, then he asked for a break in the dressing room.
And Czech Jakub Mensik collapsed on the clay yesterday, overcome by the heat, after beating Argentina’s Navone in five sets. Norway’s Ruud had serious problems with the heat, despite the fact that he managed to win against Russia’s Safiullin.
“I think I got real heatstroke. I got dizzy and felt like a zombie. It had only happened once in Washington a few years ago, and then I was forced to abandon the match. This time I was leading 2-1 in sets so I told myself I needed to lower my body temperature and luckily it worked”, said the northerner at the end.
