Jannik Sinner, Paolo Bertolucci is bitter but disagrees with some supporters

Paolo Bertolucci, former Italian tennis player and current Sky commentator, also commented on Jannik Sinner’s shock defeat at Roland Garros. The Azzurro, ahead two sets and 5-1 in the third against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, succumbed to heat sickness and lost the next three sets, being eliminated by the Argentine.

“He lost Jannik Sinner the only way it could happen. He is human, too. W Sinner!” is Bertolucci’s post, who then responded to fans who complained about the time at which the world number one was placed, at noon: “Besides today he should have played other matches in the afternoon. The organization couldn’t? Yes he could, it’s everyone’s turn.”

Bertolucci also disagreed with those who attacked the scheduling of Sinner, who had come back from so many tournaments in a row: “He had nine days to recover from the Rome tournament.”

The final score tells the drama of what happened on the Philippe Chatrier: 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 in favor of the Argentine. Sinner had dominated the first two sets with full authority, only to suffer a devastating physical collapse that rendered him virtually immobile on the court in the last three partials. With this defeat, the South Tyrolean’s extraordinary string of consecutive victories stops at 30.

The weather context had already triggered the alert: a Météo-France warning for extreme temperatures was active over Paris, with the French capital and several departments under observation for the heat wave. With a perceived temperature of 36 degrees on center court, the risks of dehydration, heat stroke, nausea and exhaustion unfortunately materialized on Sinner’s body at the worst possible moment. At 5-4 in the third set, with Cerundolo at 0-40, the world number one had already asked for the physiotherapist’s intervention, confessing, “I don’t feel good, I feel like I need to throw up.”