French Open Day 5 - Sinner STUNNED! What happened, and what now?
The Tennis Podcast
David Law
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2026
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Catherine, David and Matt react to Jannik Sinner’s loss at Roland Garros, a result which blows the whole tournament wide open.
Part one - Men’s draw. We discuss how Sinner’s dramatic defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo unfolded as his 6-3 6-2 5-1 lead evaporated and his body wilted in the heat. How did Sinner explain what happened in his press conference? And what does it mean for the tournament? Ben Shelton, the fifth seed, has already failed to capitalise, while 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame lit up Lenglen again.
Part two - Women’s draw (49:25). We cover another day of convincing wins for Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova, a big win for Naomi Osaka, and more very special scenes involving Oleksandra Oliynykova.
Part three - Mousquetaire of the day and Day 6 Order of Play, including Novak Djokovic vs Joao Fonseca in the day session (1:07:21).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast coming to you from the grounds of the French Open the second Grand Slam of the tennis season. |
| 0:17.5 | It is Thursday evening here in Paris. It is 9 p.m. Day 5 out of a 15-day tournament |
| 0:24.5 | and Yanik Sinner, the overwhelming and prohibitive favorite for the men's title is out. He was |
| 0:31.5 | defeated in extraordinary circumstances in the second round by the world number 56 Juan Manuel Serundolo, brother of the better known and higher-ranked Francisco Serundolo, having led Sinner two sets to love and five won. |
| 0:49.0 | He was a game away from an efficient, comfortable victory when all four wheels came off at once from |
| 0:58.2 | five to in the third set Sinner lost 18 points in a row this is a man that has won his |
| 1:04.8 | last 30 tennis matches he won only two further games in the entire match. He was a ghost out there for the |
| 1:14.5 | second half of this match. Iceing and fanning himself at every sit-down, seeking treatment for |
| 1:19.8 | what appeared to be heat exhaustion, unable to generate any power from his legs at all, just |
| 1:26.1 | swiping at the tennis ball and hoping for a miracle. |
| 1:30.1 | It looked, David, a replica of what we saw from Sinner in Australia against Elliot Spitziri, |
| 1:37.4 | except this time there was no roof to save him. |
| 1:41.5 | Yeah, I think that sums it up pretty well because at two sets to love and for love, |
| 1:47.6 | in fact, in the second set, I decided to go and give my mum a call because I thought, okay, |
| 1:52.4 | we haven't really got anything eventful going on. This seems like a good window. I think we spent |
| 1:56.8 | 12 minutes on the phone and by the time I came back to the screen, Sinna was still |
| 2:02.7 | serving for the match but at 5-4 now and clearly something had happened and then when you saw |
| 2:10.6 | him, I mean you used the word he looked like a ghost. He really couldn't, he looked like he |
| 2:16.3 | didn't really know where he was. He was sort of wandering |
| 2:19.8 | around the baseline, trying to regain his focus, trying not to be sick, or trying to be sick |
| 2:26.5 | if it would help him. You know, he, he was lost. He was lost suddenly and Surundalow was very, very |
| 2:33.2 | clever. He worked out, if I keep this ball in and I keep this guy moving and he was aided and |
... |
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