Phlegmatic Jannik Sinner has brushed off suffering one of the great boilovers in tennis annals, adamant he won't be deflected from chasing more glory after crashing out of the French Open, downed by an Argentine underdog and the searing heat in Paris.
Seemingly moments away from being able to retreat to the locker room with another win under his belt, Sinner's second-round match descended into a dizzy nightmare on Thursday as heatstroke at 33C melted his superman powers and the world No.1 bowed out 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-1 6-1 to world No.56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
It felt like a seismic shock for the sport, but unbackable favourite Sinner, foiled in his odds-on shot at completing his career grand slam, shrugged it off, saying that though it was "tough to take", he was making no excuses for his hot-weather vulnerability that also afflicted him in the Australian Open.
