From ‘unbeatable’ to ‘drained’ – Boris Becker pinpoints how Jannik Sinner fell to 'biggest sensation in recent years' at French Open

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TNT Sports pundit Boris Becker called Jannik Sinner's shock second-round loss at the French Open the "biggest sensation at Grand Slam tournaments in recent years," adding he appeared "just empty".

Highlights: Watch historic upset as drained Sinner implodes against Cerundolo

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The world No. 1 looked certain to book his spot in the third round at Roland-Garros after racing into a two-set lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo and serving for the match.

But Sinner - who was on a 30-match winning streak - suddenly wilted in the conditions - with the temperatures in Paris exceeding 30 degrees Celsius - and saw his advantage evaporate.

Winning just two of the final 20 games in the five-set encounter, Sinner suffered a shock exit, having been widely regarded as the favourite to win the title.

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Becker, a six-time Grand Slam winner, said Sinner was thought to be "unbeatable" given his run of form, but the conditions at Roland-Garros caught up to the Italian.

"You just have to do the math: Jannik has been constantly on the road since the beginning of March," Becker said. "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. … 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.”

Becker also suggested Sinner's issues might not have solely been with his body.

”For me, this can’t be physical, it has to be mental. We don’t know what’s going on inside him," he said. "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.”

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'One small Achilles heel'

Sinner has previously displayed signs of struggling in hot conditions. At the Australian Open in January, he suffered a big scare during his third-round match against Eliot Spizzirri.

Cramping in the intense heat and barely able to serve, Spizzirri took a break advantage in the third set before Sinner was afforded a lucky break, with the match stopped in order to close the roof on Rod Laver Arena.

Last year, heat and humidity got the better of Sinner at the Shanghai Masters as he was forced to retire from his match against Tallon Griekspoor.

After the loss in Paris, Sinner said he felt "very dizzy" towards the end of the match, adding that he "didn't feel very well" when he woke up this morning.

Patrick Mouratoglou, a tennis coach who worked with Serena Williams, said he was "not all that surprised" with the result after seeing the playing conditions.

"I posted a video this morning saying he had a real opponent in this tournament. It was the weather conditions that were completely out of the ordinary," Mouratoglou told TNT Sports. "We’ve never had heat like this in the first week of Roland-Garros.

"We know he’s a player who’s very sensitive to weather conditions. When I saw the conditions, I said there was a real danger for him. Anything can happen in a Grand Slam tournament, as we know. Weather conditions are part of the game."

But even though playing in high temperatures might cause an issue in the future, Mouratoglou does not foresee any long-term issues for Sinner.

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"Luckily for him, extreme conditions like that don’t happen all that often. It does happen, but those are still pretty rare cases," he said. "Is that a limitation? Yes, it’s a limitation, but everyone has their limits.

"He’s exceptional in almost every way. Mentally, he’s exceptional. He’s probably one of the two fastest players on the tour. He dominates the tour by a mile. He has one small Achilles heel. It’s his tolerance for extreme heat and humidity.

"And we had a combination of both. The climate is heavy and humid. And in those conditions, players lose a lot of water. They’re more or less sensitive to it. He’s very sensitive.

"He’s going to have to find solutions because it was practically a foregone conclusion that he was going to win at Roland-Garros. He dominates so completely. And he was stopped solely because of that. It’s terrible for him."

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