Jannik Sinner arrived at Roland-Garros as the top seed amid expectations of little resistance on clay. Carlos Alcaraz planned to miss the summer due to a wrist injury, and Novak Djokovic had not been active since defeating Sinner in Australia. Sinner had regained the No. 1 ranking, won multiple records, and completed an exceptional clay run, including sweeping three Masters titles and dropping only one set. He also carried a 30-match win streak into his second-round match. Despite this form, hot conditions and heat-related struggles resurfaced, and Sinner suffered a surprising second-round defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
"Going into Roland-Garros, there was clear consensus: The greatest threat to Jannik Sinner was the Sun itself. It's the type of snappy one-liner that gets slung on the TV broadcast a dozen times a day, but it wound up prescient as the No. 1 seed melted down Thursday in a stupefying second-round loss to Juan Manuel Cerundolo."
"Outside of celestial bodies, the top men's player wasn't slated to face much of a threat at the clay Slam. His rival Carlos Alcaraz hadrecently announced that he would sit out the summer to recover from a wrist injury. Part-time tennis player Novak Djokovic had barely clocked in for work since his impressive win over Sinner in Australia in January."
"When he arrived in Paris, he was winding down one of the best clay seasons in tennis history, having swept the three Masters titles, a feat previously achieved by only Rafael Nadal. Along the way, Sinner dropped only one set. Zooming out slightly further, Sinner had strung together six Masters titles in a row, which had never been done."
"But let's get back to the Sun. It's been hot at Roland-Garros thus far. Sinner has struggled with heat in many high-profile matches, most conspicuously at this year's Australian Open, when a timely application of the heat rule allowed him to recover from a cramping jag in his third-round match."
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