‘Unbeatable’ Jannik Sinner has a ‘mental problem’ says tennis legend Boris Becker after world No1 crashed out of French Open

Tennis icon Boris Becker believes Jannik Sinner’s shock French Open exit was as much ‘mental’ as ‘physical’ as the Italian was knocked out in the second round by Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

The 24-year-old Sinner appeared to be slipping away on a sweltering day under the Paris sun, racing to a comfortable two-set victory before serving out the match in the third round.

But while he was four points away from a place in the third round, the world No. 1 suddenly imploded as the temperature in the French capital exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.

Allowed for a short break in the match, Sinner lost 18 of the next 20 games, and thus the match, in five sets.

The four-time major winner, who is on a 30-match unbeaten streak, later admitted his sudden collapse was not due to the heat but to him ‘hitting the wall’ due to illness.

However, Becker believes that it was not Sinner’s illness that kept him out of action at Roland Garros, but the demons in his head.

Becker said: ‘For me it can’t be physical, it has to be mental. We don’t know what’s inside it. How much pressure does he put on himself? He said he slept badly. It’s hard to sleep when you’re overthinking and tense.’

Sinner had been the clear favorite to avenge his dramatic defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s French Open; This was an all-time classic, with the Spaniard withdrawing from the tournament due to an ankle injury.

“This is the biggest sensation in Grand Slam tournaments in recent years,” Becker added. ‘Jannik Sinner was seen as unbeatable; He won Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome in impressive fashion. Then today he served twice in the match and still couldn’t finish the match. This is his big problem.

‘He often faces physical and perhaps even mental challenges, especially when major league games go the full distance or things get intense.

‘Earlier this week I was asked who Sinner’s biggest rival in Paris would be. My answer was: air! We saw this once again today.’

Although the weather seemed to drain Sinner’s energy as the match progressed, Becker also attributed the Italian player’s fatigue to the number of matches he has played this year.

“You just have to do the math: Jannik has been on the road constantly since the beginning of March,” added Becker, who works as a TNT Sports pundit. ‘He played in California, Florida, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome and kept winning. But at some point this man runs out of energy.

‘He’s human and he had a bad day today. I don’t know if it was because of the heat. He plays for two hours and suddenly starts showing signs of cramping. I can’t quite believe it and it seems to me that it’s all in his head. I liked that he didn’t make excuses and just said, “It was because of me.”

Sinner appeared to be struggling with the Paris heat before building a two-set lead over Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.

‘It was just empty. That was a lot of matches. This can happen to anyone. ‘The last few weeks he’s been playing like he’s from another planet, always open, always having to answer everyone’s questions – and today’s game was just too much.’

Leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1, you can sense that a man who arrived at Roland Garros with 30 straight wins and five straight tournament victories might have been over the line if Sinner hadn’t been playing in the middle of an unprecedented Paris heatwave and instead hit 20 degrees instead of 32.

Instead, he hit a wall in the third round after losing 15 consecutive points, falling 40-0 behind at 5-4 on serve.

Like Daily Mail Sports What we discussed yesterday is that when things get heated, the Sinner often melts down. He did not win a Grand Slam match for four hours. He stayed here for 3 hours and 36 minutes.

At the Australian Open in January, she was rescued by a heat rule that suspended play after trailing 3-1 in the third set and got the time she needed to calm down and regain control.

‘This is unfair for Cerundolo,’ four-time Grand Slam champion Jim Courier said on Tennis Channel. ‘This is not an injury. He needs to be punished for this. He’s clearly cramping.

‘The rules are being relaxed for the best players. You can’t tell me you have to take him off the field to see what his vital signs are like. ‘This is absolute nonsense.’

Players are not allowed to leave the field due to cramp. If Tourte had started the countdown clock and Sinner had not served on time, he would have been given a time violation.

The path has been cleared for Novak Djokovic to move towards his 25th Grand Slam title. This will be the first Slam without Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz in the final since the 2023 US Open. Djokovic won this one too.