On Thursday, the world No. 1 and favorite to win Roland Garros saw a commanding position evaporate and a potential title bid end in dramatic fashion. Jannik Sinner led Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 6-2, 4-1 and even reached match points, but a sudden physical issue changed the match.

Commentary during the match captured the moment’s gravity. “He knows the end is near,” Brian Anderson said. “He’s managing the pain; he’s in tennis’s version of hospice,” Anderson’s booth-mate, Jim Courier, agreed. “He’s just kinda riding this thing to the end.”

Sinner halted play and lifted his lower right leg. “I just need a moment,” he said, according to Mary Jo Fernandez on the sideline. What followed was a rapid reversal. Serving for the match at 5-2, Sinner was broken at love after a double fault. Serving for the match again at 5-4, he began with a double fault and was broken at love. He dropped 15 straight points and watched momentum swing entirely to his opponent.

“I struggled, starting to feel very dizzy,” Sinner said. “Very low of energy. Tried to serve it out, but didn’t have a lot of energy.” He added that the problem began before the match: “Woke up this morning, didn’t feel very well and tried to keep the points very short.” He also said, “I felt this morning I didn’t sleep very well,” and, “This morning when I woke up, I was struggling a bit, but you know, this can happen. Usually in Grand Slams you have a couple of days where you don’t feel perfect. This was today.” He summarized the collapse: “I was hitting very clean, very good, and then I just kind of hit the wall, and that’s it.”

Cerundolo, the 56th-ranked Argentine, grew steadier as Sinner faded and completed one of the most unlikely Grand Slam comebacks, winning 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1. Sinner arrived at Paris after a remarkable spring: 31 straight victories and five Masters 1000 titles in 2026, including a clay sweep in Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome. He said he will need time to “process what went wrong here.” For now, the tournament continues without the top seed.

Jannik Sinner arrived at Roland Garros as the form player on clay, but his run came to an abrupt end in the second round. He led Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 before Cerundolo produced an extraordinary reversal, winning 18 of the final 20 games to complete the victory and halt Sinner’s 30-match winning streak.

Sinner had opened his tournament in a night session against Clement Tabur. Having won every clay event he entered this season, with trophies in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, he was the pre-tournament favorite. The absence of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz further strengthened his bid to complete a Career Grand Slam, but the match on Court Philippe Chatrier did not follow the expected script.

Sinner attempted to cool himself down in-between changeovers. He did not reach match point when he led the contest. As the temperature and momentum shifted, Cerundolo seized control and produced the biggest win of his career to date: a maiden Top 10 victory.

The upset also reshaped the men’s draw. Novak Djokovic remains the lone former major title holder left, after Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Daniil Medvedev were all eliminated in the first round. For Sinner, the defeat represents his earliest exit at a major since he lost in the second round here three years ago to Daniel Altmaier.

Cerundolo’s run from a deep deficit was decisive and emphatic. For Sinner, a campaign that had appeared destined to press toward a grand slam breakthrough instead ended far earlier than anticipated. The match will be recalled for the sudden swing in momentum and for Cerundolo’s composed play in the closing stages.

Joao Fonseca produced the biggest match of his young career Wednesday, mounting a comeback from two sets down to defeat Dino Prizmic in a five-set, nearly three-and-a-half-hour encounter at Roland Garros. The 19-year-old, seeded No. 28, recovered after dropping the opening sets and completed a 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory against the 20-year-old Croatian.

Fonseca went without a break point opportunity until the third set, then grew in confidence and began pressuring Prizmic’s serve. He collected six return games in the final three sets en route to his first-ever triumph in a five-set match. Tears came after the final point as emotion followed the milestone.

“I think he played really good in the first two sets. It was tough for me. I was not playing good and he was just destroying me,” Fonseca said. “I changed a little bit my game. I think going for the second serve returns inside the court to put a little bit more pressure and going more aggressive, which in the beginning I was trying to be more solid.”

The win sets up Fonseca’s first meeting with Novak Djokovic in the third round. Djokovic had reached this stage following wins over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Valentin Royer earlier in the week in Paris, and had been beaten by Prizmic at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in his only other 2026 clay-court appearance.

Fonseca admitted he had longed for the possibility of facing the 24-time major champion. “I always talk to my coach, like, I want to be in Novak’s draw, because I know it’s not going to last too much. I just want to have this experience in my life,” he shared.

The match provided a vivid snapshot of a young player breaking through under pressure and the mingled relief and joy that comes with a first five-set victory at a Grand Slam.